


From Venezuela, with love ♡

by LadyNocheEterna



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Multi, No teenage drama only fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-14
Updated: 2020-02-06
Packaged: 2020-03-05 11:56:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 79,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18828211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyNocheEterna/pseuds/LadyNocheEterna
Summary: Carlos, age seventeen, has lived all his life in Maracaibo, Venezuela. Now, on his last year of high school, his father has gotten a job offer in a small desert community in the southwest of the United States...[I DO NOT CONSENT FOR MY WORK TO BE USED IN ANY WAY, SHAPE OR FORM BY THE APP FANFIC POCKET LIBRARY]





	1. First Day

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: “Welcome to Night Vale” is property of Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor.
> 
> Shoutout to the lovely @DesertDaylight who helped me with this!

**1\. First Day.**

  Carlos is a simple kid, or at least he likes to think he is. There wasn’t much he wanted in life, he wanted to go to college and get a degree in a scientific field, and maybe a boyfriend in the meantime, some friends will be nice too. 

  He had been living happily in Venezuela with his family, thinking of attending University in Caracas, but then his father got a job offer in a security company in the United States, which was exciting yes, but it had him reevaluating his plans. This country seemed to have a very extensive program for Science fields though. The family had spent two weeks in El Paso, Texas, which was nice, and then took route to a little desert community in the southwest that wasn’t even in the map; a small town by the name of Night Vale. 

It had to be, scientifically speaking, the most interesting community he had ever seen. 

That’s what he was thinking as he walked along his parents and younger brother down the aisle in the Ralph’s with his earbuds on, listening to some soft rock. He saw his mother piling some stuff in the cart and his father talking quietly to her while holding his brother’s hand. He saw Fabian standing on his tip-toes, trying to reach a cereal box that was out of his reach, so he leaned over and got it for him, which earned him a small smile from the little boy as he put it in the cart. 

He could see why they were brought along, as well. Statistically speaking, a quiet teenager with music on and an eight year old kid who had been promised he could help and get a candy as a reward for behaving were going to be less of a hassle than a pair of girls made by a twelve year old who is too busy texting her friends back at Caracas because she misses them too much to listen or a fourteen year old picking a fight over the very same reason as she is going through her rebellious phase and doesn’t know how to express herself properly yet. Yep. That was the reason why Carla and Carolina were at home. 

‘ _Did I ever have a rebellious phase_?’ he wonders, but it was unlikely, he always got along with his parents and never had a reason to fight with them. Not even now, as he didn’t have as much friends in Caracas as his sister Carla did, they weren’t going to miss him, either. Which wasn’t his low self-esteem talking, he could prove that hypothesis right then and there by checking his phone, which he did, and, what do you know?, none of his old friends had called. Then again, are people who just hang around you during school hours and are always asking to copy your homework really friends?

  His father taps him on the shoulder, which makes him remove one of his earbuds and lift his eyes from his phone to look at him. He asks in hushed tones, so Fabian didn’t hear, he supposes, if he could go get some candy, so off to the candy aisle he goes. He keeps one earbud off just in case. 

“ _Carajo_ ” he mutters quietly before pouting when he sees that they don’t have the candy bars he likes, he knew that they didn’t sell the same sweets that his home country did, but weren’t Snickers or even Kit Kats supposed to be from the US? Or was it because he was in a city that didn’t even show in the map? Jeez, he really wanted one of those. He didn’t curse often, just every once in a while, when his mother wasn’t around to chide him for it.

“That’s not a very nice word”.

  His head snaps to the side so fast he hears a faint pop just right behind his neck. There, to his left, is a boy around his age, he guesses, with black hair and mischievous blue eyes.

“You know Spanish?” he asks, lifting an eyebrow.

“Yup, my grandparents are Cuban, so I speak a bit of the language, you?”

“Venezuelan, born and raised” Carlos answers, hands in his pockets now.

“Nice! I’m Dave” he introduces himself, before sticking out his hand for Carlos to shake, which he does. 

“Carlos” is the simple response he utters to the other boy.

  He spends some time talking with Dave, but later gets a text from his parents asking where he is, so he bids him goodbye. Dave tells him he hopes to see him at school that very same Monday. As Carlos walks back to his parents with five chocolates bars on his hand and wondering if Dave is going to even remember him if he manages to cross paths with him again, he thinks he hears what sounds a lot like someone gasping behind him, but when he turns, no one is there. Weird. But, then again, this place is the epitome of weird, so he doesn’t pay much attention to it.

  That Monday, he wakes up much earlier; the sun isn’t even up yet, or at least he thinks that it is too early. One look at his clock lets him know that it’s actually 7:00 a.m. and the sun was supposed to be up in the sky by now. Wait… that was interesting… how was it even possible? Was his clock broken? No, he could see it wasn’t the case when he turns his phone on and it displays the same hour that his alarm clock does. 

  A knock on the door shakes him from his thoughts and he props himself up on his elbow when his mother opens the door. She is already dressed in her work clothes, she works as a nurse and got a position in Night Vale’s General Hospital, she is starting today as well.

 _“Buenos días, Carlitos_ ” she smiles. “I don’t know what is wrong with the clocks, but it seems it is seven o’clock. So get dressed and come down for breakfast, okay? You don’t want to be late on your first day, hm?”

  He reluctantly gets up as his mother closes the door and gets ready for the day, not really looking forward to it.

* * *

 

  It wasn’t that bad, really. He bumped onto Dave when he entered the place, so he introduced him to a girl named Rochelle and two of her friends: Mark and Nilanjana. Funnily enough, not only were they all new in town like him. They were also into science. Yeah, to say he felt welcome was an understatement. By lunch, he had also met Stan and Louisa, new in town and into science as well; also dating each other.

  The seven of them did what new students do and stayed together. They were sitting together in one of the biggest lunch tables, discussing if they should look up the school clubs and create a science one if they didn’t have one already, when it happened.

  Carlos is hungrier than usual, which he chatted up to the different schedule he had. He had never been to school from eight a.m. to three p.m., only attending in the mornings instead. 

“Excuse me” says politely a girl who approached the table. She is petite, with dark skin and wild black curls held in place by a pink bandana. “Hello, my name is Dana Cardinal” she introduces herself, seeing she had everyone’s attention. “May I sit with you?”

“Of course!” Rochelle answers cheerily. “The more the merrier!” Dana smiles and sat next to her, leaving a tupperware on the table. “You’re the first one to approach, actually” she adds thoughtfully.

“Yeah, everybody in town is a bit like that with interlopers” is the explanation she gives, opening her container, revealing some sandwiches. Carlos thinks it is a strange way of referring to new people but whatever, must be common in Night Vale. “Not my friends and me, though”, she clarifies. “Is okay if they sit with us when they come in here?” Rochelle nods eagerly. “Great! In fact…” she turns to look at Carlos, “…one of my friends thinks you’re cute and wants to know your name!”

  Carlos is taken aback by that. There is laughter and a couple of wolf whistles from the others while he shrinks in his seat, Dave even elbows him in the ribs muttering a playful _`you heartbreaker’_ for only them two to hear. He had never been told that someone thought he was cute, well there was one time, but he knew Camila didn’t mean it and she was only doing it for a bet. He looks sadly at his lunch, no longer hungry anymore and faintly hearing Dana calling someone over, he doesn’t want to turn and face the girl that had said such thing, mostly because he would have to come out in front of everyone and he is not quite ready to do it in front of his potential friends. However he is greatly surprised.

“Dana? Weren’t we going to sit on our everyday table?” is the question asked behind him.

  And Carlos has to turn his head; he has to know the owner of that voice; because it isn’t a girl’s voice. It is a male voice. Was it possible that the one who called him cute was another boy?

  The boy in question freezes when he turns towards him. He didn’t know what he was expecting, but it definitely wasn’t that. He wasn’t not tall or short (probably taller than Carlos, though), not thin or fat, but it wasn’t his complexion what brought Carlos’ attention. It was his eyes. They are purple in color (probably contacts) and partially hidden by glasses with a violet frame. His hair is black but seems to be bleached at the top, since that part was white and combed back. His clothes are equally out of place, he looks like an office worker, with a purple dress shirt with the sleeves neatly rolled up, a black sweater vest and a black bowtie.

“Which one of you has a crush on my friend here?” Dave asks teasingly.

  That makes Carlos notice there is a second boy there as well, he is a bit taller than the other, with a short ginger undercut and freckles over his forearms and face, and wears a Boy Scouts uniform. Also, Dave had said that he is his friend, which is nice.

“Dana Cardinal!” hisses the boy with the pretty eyes, making the redhead laugh. “Earl Harlan!”

Cute boy or not, he wasn’t going to make Carlos look like a fool, so he counterattacks.

“Were you the one that wanted to know my name?” he asks, before stretching out his hand for him to take. “Hi, my name is Carlos”.

“Carlos?” the boy repeats dreamily, before taking his hand which lets him see not only the strange purple markings that look an awful lot like tattoos, but also a little bracelet made up of different colored pearls that, together, form a rainbow, could it be…? “I’m Cecil Palmer…”

  And, against his better judgement, Carlos grins at him, earning a love-struck sigh from Cecil.

 


	2. Pins and social media stalking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A fundraising is happening in the Night Vale High School’s football field, some revelations are made and there’s a complaint or two about romance novels (or lack of thereof).

  Night Vale is confusing.

 Those are Carlos’s thoughts as he waits on the hallway for the rest of his friends to join him. There is a little fair-like thing going on in the football field, a fundraising of sorts. He had already went there, just to take a look and see if it was worthy going back there later with his friends. It looked fun and he even bought something.

  He bought a rainbow colored pin, which now was latched to his flannel’s lapel. 

  He hadn’t come out to his friends the day Cecil asked to know his name, but he hadn’t said he was straight either. So far, the only one who knows for sure is Dave. He had built quite a friendship with the boy; he felt he could say they had truly become good friends.

“There you are!” says the boy in question approaching next to all of their friends and beaming when he sees Carlos’ pin. “Hey, man, look! Can you believe they had these?!” he asks excited, pointing at the pin that adorns his Dr. Who t-shirt. Unlike Carlos’ it has only three stripes; pink, yellow and blue. “I bought like three!”

“What are you going to do with three?” he asks jokingly, even when almost feeling the stares from the others, he tries really hard not to look at them, though.

“One goes in my backpack, other in my clothes and one in case I lose either one, see? All planned!” he answers like is the most obvious.

“Carlos, baby” Rochelle says sweetly, it is not hard to see why Louisa keeps saying she is the group’s ‘Mama Bear’, “stop looking like a deer caught in the headlights, nobody is going to say anything, okay?” then she points at her own shirt. There is two pins there. One has four stripes: black, grey, white and purple, while the other has two light blue stripes at the top and bottom, two more in pastel pink and a white one in the middle.

“Yeah, it’s cool” Nilanjana chimes in. 

  Carlos blinks, clearly surprised, but then he smiles and thanks them. His heart feels heavy with acceptance and he has never felt like that before. He loves the sensation. If this keeps up he is going to cry…, of joy, of course. However, Dana approaches them and instantly does a double take on Rochelle’s pin.

“Disappointed, Cardinal?” she jokes.

“Got my hopes up for a second, not gonna lie, thought that purple pin of yours was actually a different one” she clarifies, before she points at hers, it has a lot of stripes in pinks and oranges with a kiss mark on a corner. She then turns to Carlos and Dave. “You guys got one too, cool!” 

“Yup, may as well attract some potential suitors” Dave states, making Dana nod in agreement. “I wonder…” he says thoughtfully, before putting on his other two pins. “In theory, this will attract more people who might be interested” he explains to his friends. 

  Carlos makes a move to remove his.

“Maybe I should…”, but Dave’s hand stops him by gently grabbing his wrist.

“Nope! I will keep at least one of mine on, if you keep yours”, he smirks at him. “Gay-Pan solidarity, dude”

“I’m keeping mine on too!” Rochelle joins.

“Me three!” adds Dana raising a fist in the air and jumping a bit, making her sailor pink skirt swish a little.

“What are you doing with so many pins on, Lab Rat?”

  Everybody turns to see Earl, followed by Cecil. Earl’s pin has three stripes: pink, purple and blue and is latched on one of his uniform’s short sleeves, next to a badge that must only exist in Night Vale, while Cecil fidgets nervously with his rainbow colored one, attached to the velvety purple vest he is wearing over a white dress shirt. Carlos thinks he looks really cute when he is nervous and smiles at him. He smiles back.

“I’m proving a theory, Boy Scout” Dave retorts, rolling his blue eyes and crossing his arms, then smirks again, smugly. “You just proved me right”.

  The group then takes off to their next class. Night Vale High School has a small population that is always decreasing in numbers, given the perils of daily life in the community; therefore all of the classes are grouped out by age, thing that Carlos doesn’t mind too much, knowing that it allows him to be with his friends. As they enter the Literature class, which he knows is one of Cecil’s favorites, he notices said boy watching him sideways. Has he noticed the pin? He hopes so…

  Carlos likes Cecil; he was kind to him from day one, but… Cecil scares him. No one has ever said about him the things the purple-eyed boy does; no one has ever showed that level of pure and unmistakable adoration for him before. And he also doesn’t want to hurt Cecil, (which has nothing to do with whatever Earl and Dana plan to do with him if they feel Cecil is unhappy, which in itself is a possibility scary enough) and a small part of him feels that he is the one that is going to be hurt if the other boy ever decides to take his rose-colored glasses off and see him how he really is.

  How he is even supposed to act? He treats Cecil like he will with any other friend, but will be lying if he said that their contact happens purely on school-related hours. They day they met, as they finished lunch and were heading to their next class. The Palmer boy handed him his phone number and told him to call him if he ever needed anything while flashing him a flirty smile. 

  Cecil Palmer is, scientifically speaking, the only thing keeping Carlos from losing what sanity he has left to the strangeness of this town. Every time he doesn’t understand something, he calls Cecil, and he is more than happy to help him. He just wishes he could do more for the other boy, help him like he helps him.

  The closest he had been to do so was inviting him to have a coffee in a café near the school to, _Dios_ …, he freaking took him to the café to help him with his homework. It was the only thing that Carlos could think of in which he could be helpful, because, despite Cecil’s enthusiasm about science, he is terrible at it. However, the Venezuelan boy definitely had to give him bonus points on the enthusiasm department. He tries to understand, really tries.

  And he is not going to lie, either. Cecil is… a very good-looking boy, with a voice warm and sweet like honey and a face to match. He has a healthy respect of boundaries, unlike some grow-ups he has met in his life. The moment Cecil saw that the way they were sitting in the café, so next to each other their arms were pressed against each other’s, was making Carlos uncomfortable, he backed away, leaving a few inches of space between them. He appreciated the gesture.

  When he snaps out of his thoughts of Cecil Gershwin Palmer, he realizes he is only a block away from his house. Usually all the group does the trip back home together. Stan and Louisa don’t, though, since the boy’s parents had gifted him a car for his birthday (his dad is a business man and his mother a lawyer, so to say they’re wealthy is an understatement) and he lives in the general opposite direction, Earl had a Scout Meeting at the entrance of City Hall, Cecil and Dana got a call from the radio station they’re both interning at, Nilanjana was picked up after school by her father, Mark is down with the flu, while Dave and Rochelle decided to stay after school to see what they can do about the school’s lack of a science club.

  He doesn’t mind walking alone; he just thinks it’s curious that in a group as big as theirs no one else had to take the path home that day.

  He sighs and enters the house. As expected, his siblings are already home, since his father picks them up, because the middle school is right next to the elementary the youngest member of the family attends. He can practically hear in his head how his sister Carla complains about it. All she does lately is complain, it seems.

“Carlos, _hijo,_ is that you?” asks his father from the kitchen.

“Yeah, it’s me!” he announces taking off his bag but not leaving it by the door, since he knows it bothers his mother to no end, to be honest, he wishes they could just speak Spanish at home, it will make the place feel a little bit more homey to him. However, Fabian is still having trouble adjusting to the changes (he is not the only one) and switches back to Spanish without noticing, it’s not strange, he is only eight years old after all, but to help him everybody has agreed to speak English around him so he gets adjusted faster. He can see the logic behind that, begin exposed to the language constantly makes you fluent at it, he wonders if he can help by explaining things to him in English when he helps him with his homework before dinner tonight.

  He enters the kitchen and leaves his school bag on a chair, he has homework to do. His father is working on his computer. Realizing he never asked, he wonders if he should perhaps ask his father about his new job. He retired as cop after an injury in the line of duty; luckily it had nothing to do with guns or bullets. He now works as a security consultant for the company that moved them to Night Vale. He had heard something about the library? But Cecil had told him the library is extremely dangerous, and that the librarians are horrible monsters, so he rather not think about that.

“How was your day?” his father asks, still typing away in his laptop.

“Fine, I guess, do you want a glass of juice?” he offers after serving one for himself, his father nods. “Here you go. What about your day?” 

“Thanks” he takes the glass. “Fine, I still don’t have to go to the central yet, but they’re surely keeping me busy”. He frowns, before pointing at his son’s chest. “Nice pin, is it new?”

“Hm?” Carlos looks down, noticing he had forgotten to remove it. He may have been closeted in school before today, but his family knew, he had come out on a dinner a year ago when he was sixteen. Everybody took it pretty well, his mother even thanked him for trusting them enough to let know and gave him one of her biggest hugs. Still, he didn’t know what they would think about him wearing a pride pin. “Uh… this? Um, there was a fundraising at school and…” he starts to ramble.

“Looks nice on you” his father cuts in. “Just remember the rules, okay?”

“Okay” he says, biting his lips.

  The rules, the infamous rules his father had set upon him and his sisters, they’re rules about the kind of boys that he allows to date his children. They’re pretty simple: _no delinquents,_ _no lazy good for nothings, no junkies, they better be respectful, if_ _they’re older than Carlos,_ _then we_ _’re going_ _to have_ a _problem,_ that kind of thing. His father is kind of old fashioned in that sense, but he agrees with those rules, especially with the last one, he doesn’t want his sisters dating guys that are older than him; it’s weird and he would feel they’re begin taken advantage of.  There is, however, a second part of the rules he doesn’t like so much _: you better tell them your father used to be a cop and knows how to_ _use a gun and hide_ _a body, and_ _that_ I _have_ _an_ _alibi!_ He doesn’t imagine himself telling Cecil that… not that he would have to! Why would he? Cecil is just a friend! 

  He enters his room, it’s a simple room. The walls are painted a pastel blue and have a couple of George Michael and Nirvana posters hanging in them, while the carpet is a navy blue color. He takes off his shoes and leaves them by the door; he also puts his school bag on the chair by the desk and connects his phone to the charger, leaving it in the bedside table, next to the lamp. 

 _‘I don’t know why I worry’_ he thinks, seating in the desk while fidgeting a bit with his pin, _‘Papa didn’t even flinch that time when I came home from school with my ears pierced or when I started using pearl earrings, he wouldn’t really care about a silly pin…’_

  An hour later, his homework for the next day is done. It’s kind of an inside joke of the family that Rosa and Mauricio Marron had spent all the brain cells points on their oldest son. He is the smart one; it’s what his sisters say. He is going to do great things, his mother says. But for now, this smart boy is going to rest a bit, he picks up his phone and checks his messages; Dave had sent good news regarding the science club situation that he promises he will expand on tomorrow’s lunch; Rochelle had created a new group chat by the name of _#NerdsAssemble_ , which makes him chuckle, Louisa has used it to send them some memes. He checks his social media, he used to only have a Facebook, but Dave and Mark convinced him to get an Instagram, which he doesn’t know what for, he is not that good-looking to post that many selfies anyways.

  He is scrolling past some stuff that Dave had added to his main page when he sees it. 

  Wait a second… is that…? Checking the user name, he realizes he is seeing a picture from Cecil’s Instagram account: _@Ceec_GP._ It’s not a bad photo, very aesthetic looking, even. In the picture, the purple eyed boy is facing to the side, eyes closed, a smile on his face as he seems distracted, not seeming to notice the camera, while the sun shines over him. He is wearing a t-shirt with the Night Vale Community Radio logo over a side of his chest over a dress white shirt and a flower crown. He looks so cute. 

 _“Look at this cute picture my friend @DanaCard took of me!”_ the info says. 

  There are a couple comments on the picture, but he doesn’t bother to read them, he can already see that Cecil looks beautiful; he has eyes, after all. Curiously, a scientist is always curious (even if said scientist doesn’t have a degree that proves he is one yet), he taps Cecil’s user name, making it change color and display his full profile. It’s one beautiful photo after another. He finds himself scrolling through the other boy’s photos. There are selfies, pictures at the radio station, some others with Dana, Earl or both, even some with a strange purple creature with spikes on it’s back (those ones are all blurry for some reason, and you can’t really see much) that he assumes is his friend’s cat Khoshekh. Cecil looks amazing in each one of them. He stops in one in particular.

  In that shot, Cecil just faces the camera, smiling and dressed in a black and white striped and long-sleeved crop top, the smile on his lips is painted a dark purple that makes his lips look fuller (he is not surprised, he knows Cecil wears clothes of both genders and, man does he know how to flaunter them), he is holding a laughing little girl in his arms that Carlos recognizes as Cecil’s baby niece Janice, daughter of his older sister Abby. He knows it’s her, because Cecil has her picture as the screen lock image on his cell phone.

 _“My sister is working double shift today, so I get to spoil my little princess! #TheCtestLittleThing #ILoveMyNiece”,_ reads the info.

 He smiles again, how can someone be as cute as Cecil is? He had learned that his beauty was actually natural; Cecil didn’t wear purple-colored contacts, nor bleached his hair for it to look so blond it is almost white at the top. Hell, he had come to learn those “tattoos” that ran up his arms and seemed to move if you weren’t looking directly at them, weren’t even tattoos, but birthmarks he shares with his siblings. Funnily enough, Cecil’s older brother Cal does work in a tattoo parlor just out in the edge of town, though.

  If he has to choose a word to describe him… it’s exotic. Cecil is exotic. Is that why he is so drawn to him? 

“Ey, Carlos, what are you doing?” someone asks.

  He yelps, startled and almost drops his phone, finding one of his sisters standing behind him. Luckily, it’s Carolina. Carla would have given him hell. 

 _“Ay, Dios, ¡Caro, me asustaste!”_ he pants in Spanish with a hand on his chest. “What do you need?”

“Were you stalking someone online or was I high?” she asks knowingly with a smile on her face.

“Stalking? What are you talking about?” he feigns ignorance, and it almost sounds convincing, because he didn’t knew browsing someone’s photos on social media of all places was considered stalking. “Oh? Is that the book I lend you?” he says, barely hiding the relief in his voice at finding another subject of conversation in his sister’s hands.

“YES and I’m very disappointed!” she says, shoving the book into her brother’s hands with a frown. “They don’t end up together, Carlos!”

“Um, Caro, this is a crime thriller, romance is not part of the main plot… also, it was never established they would-…”

“Come on!” she cries exasperatedly. “You know I love romance sub-plots! Do you have anything else I could read?”

“Well, I don’t have any romance books…” he answers lamely, scratching the nape of his neck and biting his lips. Their father has forbidden any trips to the library, which he knows breaks Carolina’s book-loving heart and, as an older brother, it breaks his heart in turn. An idea quickly pops into his head. “You know what? I have a female friend that loves romance books as much as you do, I will give her a call and see if she has any books she can lend you, okay?”

“Okay, thanks, Carlos!” she answers, quickly enveloping him in a hug that he reciprocates. 

  Carlos smiles as she leaves the room. Well, seems like he has to text Rochelle now and ask her for a hand.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes on the pins from the beginning: 
> 
> Cecil and Carlos = Gay pride flag.
> 
> Dave = Pansexual pride flag.
> 
> Rochelle = Asexual pride flag and Trans pride flag.
> 
> Dana = Lipstick Lesbian pride flag.
> 
> Earl = Bisexual pride flag.
> 
> Spanish to English translations:
> 
> “Ay, Dios, ¡Caro, me asustaste!” = “Oh, God, Caro, you scared me!”


	3. Storms, secrets and samples

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s stormy season in Night Vale, meaning a lot of new material for a certain teen amateur scientist to try and piece together. A friendships strengths as some secrets are revealed. Carlos thinks about some relatives back in Venezuela.

**3\. Storms, secrets and samples**.

“Here you go” says Rochelle handing Carlos a couple of books. “I loved these ones when I was twelve, if your sis is anything like me; she is going to love them too”

“Thanks, Rochelle, she is going to be so happy!” he answers, storing the books safely in his bag.

  The school has his own library that is librarian-free but it doesn’t take a genius to know that most of the books are either censored or have propaganda-filled pages, which he refuses to give to his sister. Rochelle’s books will have to do.

  Is in this very same library that one of the most popular classes in Night Vale High School occurs, no one knows what the class is about, though. It used to be a regular class like any other, until whatever knowledge it held was ruled illegal and now it is two hours of doing actually nothing under the supervision of Mrs. Josie Ortiz, who is one of those _cool_ teachers that lets you call her by her first name. 

Rumor has it the class used to be about the Hierarchy of Angels, which doesn’t exists, so it’s possible that is nothing but a rumor that has somehow found it’s way through the hallways of the school.

  Everybody chooses something to do, while Josie sits at the desk Carlos considers is the one where a librarian from the world he used to know is supposed to sit. Nilanjana is reading a book, while Louisa and Rochelle look at some make up tutorials on YouTube. Mark and Stan are playing cards while Dave plays games on his phone. Earl sews some badges he won over the past week, it seems like he is always bringing a new badge every time he sees him. Dana is seating on a bean bag, correcting some papers with a glitter pink pen; he doesn’t know what they exactly are though, just that is something Cecil wrote. The boy with the purple eyes himself is resting his head on Dana’s lap, his eyelids closed, arms crossed over his chest, expression serene… is he sleeping? 

Carlos busies himself with a textbook about astronomy, not that any of the constellations depicted there are going to be visible from Night Vale, despite it begin one of the books he bought in El Paso before coming to town. He hopes it will be enough to distract him from the sleeping boy across the table, though. 

Dave nudges him under the table and asks if he could talk with him in private. He is taken aback, but nods and follows him outside the library as the rest smiles at them. A few pay no attention, including Earl, who is still sewing, Cecil who, judging by the way his chest raises and falls, had fallen asleep and Dana who hasn’t peeled her eyes off the paper as she keeps proofreading it.

  As they walk, he can notice that Dave seems cheerier than usual, not that he is usually gloomy, mind you, but still. He almost appears to have a skip in his step as they walk down the deserted hallway. He is carrying a clipboard on the crook of his elbow.

“Hey…” he calls and Carlos looks at him. “You know I consider you my friend, right?” 

“I consider you my best friend, Dave” is the response he gets from Carlos, he smiles as he says it.

“Aw, really, dude?” they both stop walking abruptly and Carlos nods, making Dave place a hand over his chest. “Bro…” he says emotionally, before adding in agreement; “neat, we are best friends now” as they keep walking. “Which brings me to my question… if you had a crush on someone, you would tell me, right?”

“Uh… yeah, I would, why?” 

“No reason, just checking” he brushes off the subject with a flick of his wrist as he stops in front of a door that is at the far end of the hallway. “We’re here!” the blue eyed boy takes out a pair of keys and uses it to open the door with his free hand. 

  They’re promptly assaulted by a cloud of dust that makes them cough. As Dave turns the lights on, he looks at the room in dismay. It looks like it used to be a lab of sorts, with some outdated equipment and walls that are covered with equally outdated educational posters. 

“Not gonna lie” he says, “I was expecting something better”. Carlos cocks an eyebrow at him, still confused, so he sighs and explains. “The school said yes to the science club, they even gave us this classroom, guess they didn’t bother to do the cleaning up, though. Ugh, I’m going to open the window, let’s see if we can let the dust out or something” he huffs and hands the clipboard he brought along to Carlos, before walking up to the window and trying to open it. It seems stuck.

“…do you need a hand, buddy?”

“No… just give me a sec…”

  The Venezuelan boy shrugs and lets his eyes read through the papers attached to the clipboard he was handed, that are basically school paperwork that needs to be filled in for the club, before looking up again at his friend’s back, who is still trying to open the window.

“Um, Dave?” all he gets is a half-hearted grunt in response. “Why does it say my name in the ' _Club President'_  um… part of the paper?” damn, that’s not what he meant, what is the word he was looking for, anyways? He winces when his friend freezes, looking over his shoulder. Great, he probably didn’t understand what he was trying to say. Carlos is (just like his siblings) still having a hard time adjusting to speaking purely English instead of Spanish and, so far, he is doing a pretty good job, he sometimes needs help with a few words he didn’t know before, but it’s mostly slang his friends use “Dave?” he tries.

“You weren’t supposed to see that yet…” he answers, shaking his head, but smiling, before walking up to him. “I discussed it with Roch, and then with the rest of the guys, we all agree that you should be the president”.

“But-, but-, but-…!” he stutters. He takes a deep breath, trying to put an order to his thoughts. “I’m flattered, really! But, um, I don’t think I’m qualified for this…!”

“First off, flattered?” he snorts, interrupting him. “Dude, you should hate us, we basically dumped all the responsibilities on you!” Dave laughs. “Second, you’re more than qualified, Carlos; you’re the smartest of the group”.

“I’m not” he countered. “Rochelle is better at biology than I am; Stan is very good with computers and Mark-…”

“You’re also very modest” Dave added. “Dude, really, you will do great.”

“What if I fuck it up?” he complains, not really caring if he is using the expression right, clutching the clipboard in his arms and looking at his sneakers. Not even he is sure of himself, how can everybody think he is fitting to do this? Well, his new friends don’t know him that well, how long has he been attending this school? Two months? Two and a half? Whatever, time is weird in Night Vale, so he can’t know for sure. He, however, can assure that his friends don’t know him well enough if they think he can do this.

“You won’t” Dave says, before taking the clipboard from Carlos’ hands and a pen from his own pocket.

“How do you know?” is his muttered question as Dave writes something quickly on the paper.

“…because I won’t let you” he clarifies with a smile as he hands him the clipboard once again.

  And as Carlos reads…

**Petition to form a school club.**

**Club activities : _Science_.**

**Club President : _Carlos A. Marron._**

**Club Vice-President : _Dave Cruz_.**

…he smiles.

  That very next Saturday, the group met at the school entrance with some cleaning supplies and the key of the room that is going to be their laboratory. The cleaning is going smoothly, in fact, they’re almost done.  

 Nilanjana, who had brought up her laptop, opened it up on YouTube (with the school’s WiFi) and told everybody they got a turn to pick a song, is wiping the windows. Rochelle and Mark are washing some glass beakers and test tubes in the sink. Dave and Carlos are sweeping while Louisa is putting some papers in the trash and Stan is preparing to mop the floor once his friends are done.

  The current song, a soft k-pop ballad that Nilanjana picked, ends and she lets Carlos know that it’s his turn to pick now. He approaches the table the laptop is sitting in and starts typing for a song he knew from his childhood and he liked a lot, he hopes his friends like it too. He clicks in the first video and one of Santana’s most famous guitar riffs starts to play.

“Neat!” Dave approves as he sweeps the broom at the beat of the music.

“Dave, you should really take that broom to dinner”, Stan jokes, and quickly adds “you have been dancing with it for the past hour”, making everybody laugh.

“Oh, shut up!” 

“Maybe you should try, _Lab Rat_ , I don’t think the broom is going to say _no_ ”.

“What are you doing here, Boy Scout?” Dave practically barks, turning to the door where Earl is standing smiling smugly.

“Oh, well, my meeting ended up early, so I decided to drop by to see if you guys needed any help” he explains.

“Okay, that’s actually very nice of you…” Dave concedes. 

“Also, I’ve found these two on my way here” the redhead steps into the room and gestures for someone who was outside to do so as well.

“Hello!” Dana greets waving a hand on the air, quickly followed by Cecil, who is carrying a pink box in his arms. “We thought you guys were probably hungry, so we brought some donuts!” 

  Rochelle suggests that a break is in order, giving how hard had everyone been working, so they drag a couple chairs while Cecil opens the box on one of the tables. The seats aren’t enough for everyone, so Louisa sits on Stan’s lap and Cecil does the same in a table next to Carlos who is just leaning against it. He offers the box to him first and the Venezuelan boy could swear he sees the other boy’s hands shaking a bit.

  Dana had launched herself into telling everybody about the multiple-mouthed monster with tentacles that showed up on the radio station’s break room after someone’s bloodstone chant went wrong. She was also extremely specific as to how Cecil bravely beat it with a _broom_ to save her and another intern and send the thing back to whatever plane of existence it came from.

“…and then Mr. Burton gave us golden stars! He does that when we do a good job.”

“It was nothing…” Cecil corrects, clearly embarrassed. 

“Nah, it was totally something, Ceec” Dana argues. “Too bad Jessica didn’t make it, though…”

“She didn’t?” Stan asks, surprised and confused.

“Yeah, she quit, said something about her credits not begin worth the trouble” the boy with the purple eyes explained. “Which, to be honest, I don’t understand, the radio station is fun!” 

  Later that night, as a storm rages outside, Carlos draws the curtain of his window back to see the colorful lightings that zig-zag through the night sky, illuminating it like fireworks. Is this normal in Night Vale? Is the first time that it rains since he moved to the town, so he isn’t sure. It’s bedtime already, so he just lays in bed, earphones on and playing a soft song in Spanish.

 _‘Mírenla, miren, miren, miren mírenla… ella está tan sola, mírenla, en sus ojos hay placer, mírenla cuando te enamora…’_ he hums to the song as he turns the lights off and lays back in bed. 

Everybody is going crazy about the storm in the group chat, except Cecil and Dana, who are explaining that, yeah, that’s how an electric storm is supposed to look and exactly how do electric storms look where you all came from?! Earl had probably gone to bed already since he is not responding to anything. The conversation drifts to another subject, so Carlos opens up his Instagram. He really should stop wasting data on browsing his social media, it’s not like he posts anything anyways, but the _#science_ hashtag of the site is actually really interesting. Also, he just saw a cute post on how to make a mini-volcano at home that he should totally try to recreate with Fabian. He would love it.

Again, an interesting photo shows up, and what do you know? It’s from Cecil’s Instagram. This time is a photo of the purple-eyed boy along with Dana and Earl, and, while they look good, it’s almost like the seventies puked all over them. Cecil is wearing a purplish shirt with the word GLAM, in golden glitter and all caps and the shoulder falling off, and skinny leather black pants. You’d think that it will look weird along with the glittery golden eyeshadow but Cecil rocks it like it’s nobody’s business. Earl is wearing a tattered military green Boy Scouts of America t-shirt under a leather jacket with way too many badges attached to it and a flirty smile. And Dana is wearing a tie-dye pink long shirt that almost covers her blue jean shorts and a lot of jewelry. Cecil’s arms are around his friends’ shoulder, Dana is making a peace sign and Earl is doing with his hand that thing that heavy metal singers do, Carlos has no idea what that sign is called, but whatever. 

_“I miss going out on parties with the two of you, we should fix that once exams are over!” @DanaCard @E.Harlan_

  The Venezuelan boy briefly wonders if Cecil would accept going out partying with him… and he doesn’t even like parties. But, to be with Cecil for any amount of time, just the two of them, sounds like the best time ever. They’re always together in school, that’s true, but always with their friends so it’s not the same. 

  He looks to the window again, the raindrops hitting the glass from the outside leave different colored streaks that make everything behind them look like a surreal pop art piece, if Carlos had to describe them, he would say the raindrops look like diluted paint. He has a cousin back in Venezuela, Silvia, who studied art in Caracas and has taught him a thing or two. Silvia is older by five years and also really sweet, unlike her younger brother Diego, who is Carlos’ age and kind of a jerk.  

His phone lets him loudly know he has a message; it’s from Dave.

_ Dude! Are you seeing the storm? It’s so crazy!! I’ve never seen anything like it!! _

_Yeah, I see it_ , he types quickly, uncompromisingly.

   He looks at the clock, it’s eleven p.m., but clocks don’t work in Night Vale, so who knows? The next day will be a Sunday, and he will most likely have nothing to do, except play maid for everybody else, since his siblings tend to trash everything they touch and he is the one left to clean the mess. He would just have to suck it up and… wait, maybe he could, like…, not do that? He is seventeen, he will be eighteen really soon (basically an adult), and he has real friends now, he can go out for the day or something. _‘And do what?’_ he wonders. His eyes drift towards the colorful storm that keeps growing in intensity outside and painting his window with the color of the rainbow, he could always see the aftermath of such meteorological event and take samples to see under the microscope they have in the school lab. 

  He grabs his phone.

_Hey, Dave?_

_Yes?_

_Do you want to hang out tomorrow?_

_I was about to ask you that! That would be great. We will have to hang out outside, though. My grandma saw some photos of me on Facebook and says I’m not getting enough sunlight, lol. Any ideas?_

_Oh, I was thinking about going to take a look around, see what the storm had left._

_Neat! I’ve got some test tubes that my mom got me for Christmas last year, want me to bring them?_

_Yes! Great! I will bring some paper and stuff so we can write down the results._

_Sounds good to me, if it starts to rain again we can go back to my house and play some videogames I’ve got Call of Duty: Black OP_!

  He smiles as he finishes planning out his next day with Dave. However, the realization that he hadn’t asked his parents for permission hits him and he bites his lips. Technically, he is old enough to decide to where and when he wants to go out, but his parents may think otherwise. So, reluctantly, he takes his earphones off and goes to the kitchen, where his father is washing the dishes (he had took upon chores and housework duties since he is the one that basically works from home) and his mother is enjoying a cup of tea after a long shift at the hospital.

“Hi, mom how was your day?” he asks, entering. Is a simple question to start conversation while he thinks on how to bring the subject up, yeah, that’s good. His mother smiles sweetly and moves back the chair next to her, before patting it. He sits and he can practically feel his father’s eyes watching him full of suspicion. He wants to roll his but doesn’t as he talks with his mother about her day. She seems overjoyed by the fact that Night Vale residents are completely afraid of doctors, so the nurses are the ones they turn to for help. 

“Finally, the recognition I deserve” she concludes, taking a triumphant sip of her warm tea. “How was your day, _mi vida_?” 

  Carlos doesn’t have much to tell; just that he had been cleaning up the laboratory all day. His parents had been really proud when he told them that his friends had decided to make him the club president. He can’t really tell if they are happier about the fact that he is an important part of the club or the fact that he now has friends that share his interests. It’s probably the latter, though. 

“…and, um, I’m going to go out with a friend… tomorrow? If that’s okay”, he explains quickly, it sounds more doubtful than he intended. Damn it. “I-I promise to be back for dinner!” he adds. “I will probably be gone early, though…” _‘Probably? But that’s exactly what I arranged with Dave! Ugh, what a mess…’_ he thinks while pondering if he should correct himself, but ultimately deciding against it.

“Okay, but be back for dinner” his mother agrees.

  He hopes his parents will leave it at that, but, he also knows he’s hoping for too much.

“This ‘friend’… are they a boy or a girl?” his father asks curiously while drying the dishes with and old rag and Carlos wants to smash his forehead against the table in front of him. Of course he would ask something like that.

“A boy” he answers truthfully, “but he is just a friend, okay?” usually he would be embarrassed if either of his parents suggested he has a date or something, but, in fact, he is frustrated, he just wishes they would understand that just because he is gay it doesn’t mean he finds every single guy in town attractive and that if he is hanging out with a male friend it doesn’t mean he’s going on a date. 

  Actually, there’s only one guy in town he finds attractive and would like to go on a date with… But that’s not the case this time.

“Are you sure?” he asks again.

“Dad, I’m serious” he complains.

“Hi, serious, I’m Dad” he finishes with a smile and Carlos wants to smash his head against the table, again. His father laughs at him and shakes his head while putting the dishes away. “Just be back for dinner, would you, Carlos?” he nods. “Good, go to sleep”.

  So, the next day he leaves early and goes to Mission Grove Park to meet with Dave, but he takes a moment to assess the damage of the storm. As far as he can see, everything is covered in vibrant colors, like someone has thrown giant paint buckets around. He can see a few of his neighbors starting to clean up, which means they’re spraying water with buckets and hoses over the colored walls and sidewalks and the colors just… wash off. He can’t wait to tell Dave about it, he waves as he sees that said boy is waiting for him by the park entrance, holding a case with a plastic set of the test tubes he promised to bring. 

  The park is covered in different colored puddles. How is it possible that some of the colors stayed the same? Didn’t they mix when they fell to the ground? Why? 

  He and Dave talk a bit as Carlos gets down on one knee to fill one of the test tubes with purple colored… water? Yeah, water, because there’s no way that this thing could be water but, for lack of a better term, that’s what he is going to call it until he can see it under a microscope.

“Hey, hold still, I’m gonna take a pic for my Instagram” before he can react he hears the click of the phone, and turns to look at Dave, frowning. “Come on, man, you look good, don’t worry. Oh! I’m going to tag everyone so they can see what they’re missing”, the Venezuelan boy can only roll his eyes at this.

  After filling most of the test tubes, they sit in a dry spot of the park, where the sun is shining. Carlos unpacks some cookies and leaves the box between him and Dave, so the other boy can grab them too if he wants one. However, the blue eyed boy just lies back in the grass, with his arms behind his head and his eyes closed. He grabs a cookie and bites into it. The silence between them is comfortable, which is nice. 

  He can hear some laughter in the distance and just assumes there are some kids playing around in the puddles or something. 

“Hey, dude”, Dave calls and he turns to look at him, “don’t look now, but your boyfriend is playing in the mud over there”, he points with his chin in the direction from which the laughter he had thought was of children comes from.

“What…?”

  He turns his head and there you have him. Cecil Gershwin Palmer is laughing and splashing around a few meters away from them. He is, of course, not alone, since he can see Earl and Dana with him, laughing as well. The Boy Scout is not jumping into the colored water, though, and is keeping his distance. He wonders why, but Cecil is the one that grabs his attention and stands out the most to him, but that could be because of the sparkly pink rain boots or the pastel blue raincoat with turquoise sleeves and pink pockets that goes down to his knees. 

“You’re staring too much” his friend informs him, he has flipped over so he’s lying on his stomach and has put the cookie box in front of him. “Anyone would think you’ve a crush on him”.

“What if I do?” he jumps defensively, before realizing what he has just said, Dave freezes while biting a cookie and stares at him, eyes open in surprise. “Ohmygod! No, no! I mean, yes, but…!” his friend starts to laugh, nearly choking in the cookie.

“I knew it!” he declares, before patting Carlos in the shoulder. “Why don’t you stop acting like a creep and go say hi to your boyfriend?”

“He is not my boyfriend” he argues, clearly annoyed as he stands up, patting the front of his clothes to make sure there are no cookie crumbs on them and he looks presentable. 

“Not with that attitude, mister” Dave agrees, scolding him, still munching on the cookie, but he just dismisses him with a flick of his wrist as he starts walking towards Cecil, Earl and Dana. What is he even supposed to say? Just hi?

  As he gets closer, he also grows anxious, because he can’t find the words. And he is so close now…

Something wet and cold strikes him right in the face, making him fall backwards. He clutches the side of his face, trying to wipe it away with his sleeve.

“Hey, are you-?” someone asks, approaching him. “Wait…, Carlos?! Oh, dear, I’m so sorry! Oh, my god, what a mess…” he recognizes the voice: it’s Cecil; now muttering franticly as he kneels in front of him. “Did I hurt you? I was trying to hit Earl! I’m so so-!” is the explanation he tries to give, with his hands reaching out but not yet touching him, until he is cut off by a splash of blue water to the face, the color drips onto his cheek and jaw and even a bit of his white hair sports a soft blue hue now. 

“Guess we are even, Palmer…” it’s the only response he can manage to let out as he shakes his hand to get rid of the water and then uses the side of his flannel shirt as a towel to dry it. Good luck he fell next to the blue puddle, and not _into_ it. That would have been embarrassing.

  Cecil is silent for a few seconds, making Carlos fear he went too far with his joke, but as the purple eyed boy starts to laugh, he does too and relaxes a bit. Dana, who is standing a couple of feet behind them, smiles as the other boy helps him to stand up. He frowns, when he notices that Cecil’s hand is a bit cold, and he speculates it may be due to either the weather or the fact that he was playing with the colored water, yeah, must be the second, since he can see now that there are some colored spots on the fabric of Cecil’s raincoat. He grabs both his hands in his.

“Your hands are cold…” 

“Well, yours are warm…” is the uttered response he gets from a bashful and blushing Cecil.

“So, what are you doing here, Carlos?” Dana asks, smiling. She has an orange splash on the side of her face.

“Oh! Well, Dave and I were gathering some samples of the rainwater that accumulated here at the park! We were just taking a break when I saw you guys and I wanted to say hi! Didn’t mean to get splashed, though…” he finishes with a smile, looking at Cecil, his tone teasing. However, he quickly realizes he’s still holding the other boy’s hands and lets go of them. “So-Sorry…” he adds sheepishly.

“No, i-it’s okay, really! My hands are warmer now, t-thanks!” 

“Umm… I’ve some cookies back there, you guys would like some?” he offers.

“Yeah! I could totally use a snack right now!” is Dana’s enthusiastic response.

  The three of them go back to the spot Carlos was before. Earl is already there, sitting next to Dave and eating a cookie, unlike Dana’s and Cecil’s clothes, Earl’s uniform is immaculate, without a single colored spot in it. Makes sense he was keeping his distance, if he was wearing his uniform.

“You, grouch!” Dana accuses, pointing an accusatory finger at the redhead. “You ran away!”

“Well, I can’t get my uniform stained, can I?” he retorts, rolling his eyes.

Meanwhile, Carlos and Cecil sit next to each other in the grass, the purple eyed boy smiles shyly and the Venezuelan boy smiles back as he offers him the cookie box, from which he accepts one.

“Why on Earth were you wearing your uniform if you knew you were going to play in the puddles, Freckles?” Dave asks, clearly confused.

“I didn’t know! Cecil and Dana just said we were just _‘going to the park’_ and that’s it! Also, the Night Vale Boy Scouts tend to hold the surprise inspections on Sundays, so I’m not risking it!” it’s the redhead’s defense, before eating what’s left of his cookie and changing the subject. “Man, these are good, where did you buy them?”

  After a bit, Dana’s phone rings and she huffs. It’s her older brother, who is going to pick her up from the park and take her home, because she promised to be home early or something. Earl tells her to message him when she gets home and Cecil nods in agreement. 

“You guys baby her too much” Dave criticizes, cocking an eyebrow. 

“Yeah, they do” she agrees, smiling sweetly. 

“We do” Cecil also agrees. “But only because she is younger”.

“Hold up, hold up, what?” the blue eyed boy exclaims, frowning in confusion. “Dana, how old are you?”

“How old do you think I am, Dave?” she teases.

“Seventeen…?” he ventures.

“Actually, I’m sixteen; I skipped a year in school. I won’t be seventeen until next spring…, but you’re really sweet, though, everybody always says that I look younger than I actually am, can I hug you?” she asks, but does so without waiting for an answer. She pecks him in the cheek as she stands up. “Well, better get going, my brother will be by the entrance any minute now”.  She kisses both Cecil and Earl in the cheek as a goodbye and skips away, splashing a bit as she walks through the puddles on her electric blue rain boots, the four remaining boys chat a bit as they finish the cookies, after they watch her leave.

  The clouds from the night before had returned, covering the sky and letting the sun fall behind them. Some minutes past, and as the boys laugh, not caring about the weather’s change as they heard a voice and approaching steps.

“Well, well, what do we have here?”

“Rochelle! What are you doing here?” Carlos asks, surprised, but not unpleased, to see her.

“And what’s with that tone of voice? Jesus, I thought my mom was calling me for a second there…” Dave confesses, with a hand on his chest but looking clearly relieved.

 Rochelle frowns, before lifting her cellphone for them to see the screen, displaying one of Dave’s Instagram stories, the one with a picture of Carlos filling the test tubes. 

“I decided to came to help around a bit”, she explains, fighting back a smile, “we all did” she then gestures towards Mark, Stan, Nilanjana and Louisa, who are a couple feet behind her, approaching slowly towards them. Carlos can’t help but to think that the way they’re smiling is a little bit creepy. “I, however, wasn’t expecting to find you guys on a double date…”

 Carlos face heats up as his eyes open in surprise, he tries to stammer a response but all he manages to get out is the beginning of a sentence over and over, making him sound like a broken record. He sees Cecil blushing hard out of the corner of his eye, while Earl and Dave let out things like _‘dude, what’_ and _‘babe, this is not what it looks like!_ ’ respectively. 

  A loud thunder in the distance makes everybody fall silent and look up at the sky. The clouds are darker now; it will start raining again any minute now.

“How much?” Cecil asks the redhead next to him.

“Ten…, no, fifteen minutes top. I don’t think we can make it to my house, though…” it’s his answer.

“Um, my house, then?” the purple eyed boy offers and Earl nods.

“My car it’s outside the park” Stan offers in turn.

  The group makes their way towards the park gates, there’s two vehicles parked at the entrance: a white Toyota SUV with a black roof and a red Harley Davidson that looks like one of those eighties models you see in movies, but this one is new and shiny, without a hint of dust or mud, which is weird for the desert. Cecil and Earl say their goodbyes and get on the motorcycle, before speeding off. Carlos can’t help but worry when he notices they weren’t wearing helmets, but there’s nothing he can do about it, so he just gets on his friend’s car. 

  The closest house is Mark’s, so that’s where they decide to go, hoping to outrun the rain. The ride is a little uncomfortable, giving that they’re five people in a seat for four, but they manage to make it work. Louisa is in the passenger seat, Stan is, obviously, driving while Carlos is squished between Dave and one of the windows of the backseat, it could be worse though. 

  He texts his dad, letting him know he would be at a friend’s house until the rain passes, then he would be back home. He sighs and stares out the window, it won’t be a long ride…

 


	4. Accidents on Radon Canyon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carlos has an accident that makes him reflect on a lot of things.

 He had been in this town for only six months when it happens. 

  The science club had been pushing for a field trip for months now. It boiled down to a point in which any kind of field trip would do, just to have some activities outside the school’s lab. When they finally get the permission, it’s to go to Radon Canyon. It won’t be a long trip, just an afternoon looking at the place and taking samples. Night Vale High School has a partnership with the Night Vale Community College, so their chaperone for the trip is going to be a professor and a college student from the Earth Sciences faculty. 

  Everybody is waiting in the lab, they chat a bit while Carlos is checking that all the supplies are packed and everybody had the permission slips signed, he figures that’s what Club Presidents are supposed to do, right? So far, he seems to be doing well. Dave is writing everything down in a clipboard, because, if a Club President’s job is to check everything, then the Club Vice-President’s job is to double-check. 

  The radio is on, they always keep the radio on, mostly because it had to be one of the few things in Night Vale that, while it has propaganda, it’s not so in your face about it.. They have discovered by chance that one of the stations has an all-day long weather forecast, so it’s usually what they have on when they work on the lab, that or Leonard Burton’s show, since is what everybody in Night Vale seems to listen to. Also, it’s fun to hear when Leonard Burton, Night Vale’s number one (and only) radio host, casually mentions Intern Palmer or Intern Cardinal running errands for him. This time what’s on is the forecast station and rather eerie, but at the same time comforting song, is playing.

_“What a beautiful face I have found in this place, that’s circling all around the sun. What a beautiful dream, that could flash on the screen in a blink on an eye and be gone from me, soft and sweet…let me hold it close and keep it here with me…”_

  He looks at the radio, he… he doesn’t really like that song and he can’t even pinpoint _why._

_“And one day we will die and our ashes will fly from the aeroplane over the sea, but for now we’re young let us lay in the sun and count every beautiful thing we can see, love to be in the arms of all I’m keeping here with me…”_

“Carlos?” Dave asks, shaking him out of his trance, “are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah… I just, spaced out for a second, let’s… let’s go over these things again before it’s time, okay?” he offers, trying to ignore the melody as it keeps ringing from the radio’s speakers.

  Fifteen minutes before the hour they’re supposed to depart from school, a young woman shows up. She’s dressed in a black hoodie, ripped blue jeans and black Doc Martens. She pushes her hoodie down and waves at them smiling; she has a small notebook with white covers under her arm. Next to her, it’s another woman, looking a bit older and holding a clipboard.

“Hello, everybody” the older one says with a friendly smile. “I’m Dr. Tamara Hertzwell, the associate professor of Approved Sciences. I was sent by Dr. Henrietta Bell, the Dean of Arts and Sciences in the community college”, she introduces herself. “This is my student, Simone Rigadeu, she’s an undergrad in the Earth Sciences Faculty, also she’s mute but not deaf, so don’t be shy to ask any questions you may have, okay?” 

  They take the bus there, time which Tamara uses to tell them about the career options available at the college, especially in the Science department. Nobody minds too much, Dr. Hertzwell is really nice and it’s not like they’re not interested in what she has to say.

   Carlos feels it’s going to be a really good day… 

  But he just had to be wrong about it didn’t he? 

  The last thing he remembers is pain, pain all over his body, and then darkness. When he wakes up, he is at the hospital. He winces, because he is losing whatever insensitivity the unconsciousness has granted him with and now everything hurts. Again. The lights are too damn bright and it bothers him, he tries to voice his discomfort but only manages to let out a pathetic whimper. There’s someone next to him, doing something to his arm.

“I think is safe to say you’re awake now, dear…” his eyelids flutter open, though he blinks a couple times, trying to adjust himself to the fluorescent lights. “How are you feeling, sweetie?” the person asking is a middle aged woman, with dark skin and long hair put together in a braid that falls onto her shoulder.

“…Hurts…” he manages to croak out.

“I know, sweetie, I know…” it’s the nurse’s answer. It is something super cliché to say, but the way they are worded makes Carlos believe the words are actually true. “I will let your teacher and your friend know that you’re awake and then you can call your parents…”

“My mom… she works here at the hospital” he explains, propping himself up on his elbow. “She’s Nurse Ramirez”, he adds. For some reason his mother goes by her maiden name while at work, he never understood it, but whatever.

“Oh, you’re Rosa’s kid?” the nurse offered to which he nodded, then she smiles. “Yeah, I know her; she was on break when they brought you in, but I will get her for you, lie back, okay?” he nods again and lays back. “You were really lucky, a fall like that could have killed you” she adds gravely, before smiling again, “you will be okay, don’t worry, just don’t move much for the time begin” and then she exits the room, leaving Carlos alone. Huh, he couldn’t even thank her for patching him up… he hopes he can remember her face so he can do it later.

 He takes a good look at himself and his first thought is that he looks like a mess, and what fall was the nurse talking about? He didn’t remember falling anywhere! Grunting and feeling a bit self-conscious, he sits up slowly and starts to button up his flannel shirt, which has been opened to apply some bandages and Band-Aids. Seriously, what happened to him? His head felt a bit light; did he have a concussion or something…?

  The door opens as he is finishing with his shirt. It’s Dave, who, upon seeing him awake, practically storms next to him, closing the distance between them and giving him a very rib-crushing hug, making him whimper again, this time in pain instead of annoyance, because of the fresh wounds.

“Dude!” he says without letting go, though he softens his grip a bit, usually he doesn’t like when people touch him, but for some reason he never minds when it’s Dave. “We thought you were going to die!”

“…why?”

“You mean you don’t remember?” he inquires, pulling away a bit, Carlos shakes his head ‘no’, “a ton of rocks fell on top of you when you tripped and fell! Remember?”, he shakes his head again. “Dude… well, at least you’re fine now” Dave finally let go of him with a sigh of relief. “Move it” he instructs, just to sit next to him in the hospital bed. “I promised Rochelle I would call her when you were awake…” he explains, however, their new positions allow Carlos to see that one of his friend’s forearms is heavily bandaged, so he takes his hand in his. “What…?”

“What happened?” he asks, gesturing towards their joined hands, and suddenly concerned his friend had hurt himself, wasn’t he supposed to be the only one hurt at the field trip? 

“Well, someone had to dig you out…” he admits matter-of-factly, with a shrug of his shoulders. “Everybody got a couple cuts and bruises when we pulled you off the rocks” he explains, making Carlos instantly feel an extreme guilt. “I’m the one with the worse bandages, because I cut myself with a sharp rock… but, you know what they say, girls like scars, and so do some boys, so I think I will be fine”, he says with a smug smile. “Anyways, ready to call Rochelle and tell her and the guys you’re not dead?” Carlos nods hesitantly. “Good”.

  However, as Dave searches for Rochelle’s number through his contact list, he hears Carlos speak again.

“I’m sorry…” he mutters shyly, resting his head in his friend’s shoulder.

“Don’t be… it’s not your fault, shit just happens sometimes, I guess”, it’s the response he gets, as Dave presses his cheek to the top of Carlos’ head. The cellphone starts to ring and Dave rolls his eyes, even though his friend can’t see him. “Geez, talk about impatient, it’s Roch” he sits straight and answers. “Hey, babe, good news…!” Carlos looks up at his face to see why he has stopped talking, his brows are furrowed in a frown and confusion dances in his eyes. “What do you mean you guys fucked up? Who was it? God, was it Louisa…?” Carlos laughs, and Dave cracks a smile, but that smile disappears quickly. “Dude, what” he looks at Carlos eyes wide open. “Everybody?” he asks, and Carlos cocks an eyebrow, not understanding what his friends are going on about. “Even…?” he noticeably swallows as he waits for an answer, and the Venezuelan boy can almost hear Rochelle’s muffled voice over the phone, he just can’t quite make out the words. “I see…, no, let me take care of it, I will call the Boy Scout, see if he knows anything…” Carlos’ first thought is that it’s something to do with Cecil, why else would Dave need to call Earl? Dave turns to look at him “Carlos is fine, but right now we have to deal with this, okay? Okay, see you on Monday, babe”.

“What was all that about?” he asks, once Dave hangs up.

  Dave takes a deep breath.

“Listen, Carlos, I don’t know how, but the rumor of your accident has spread like wildfire, everybody at the school… hell, everybody in _town_ thinks you’re _dead_ …”

“Oh…” he lets out, not really knowing how to respond to that.

“Dude, there’s more, Rochelle talked with Dana on the phone, apparently Cecil had a breakdown at the radio station, they had to call his sister to take him home because he wouldn’t stop crying or something…, I don’t know the specifics, but I will call Earl to see how is he, okay?” he nods. “Okay. First, I’ve to call my mom, though”. 

  Dave swings his legs over the side of the bed and stands up. Carlos, meanwhile, fidgets with his buttons, just to have something to do with his hands. He couldn’t care less about what the city thinks, surprising himself, since he had always been really self-conscious about what people may say about him. However, right now, he can only think of a boy with purple eyes who is, according to Dave and Rochelle, at home crying because he thinks he’s gone. Huh. It’s weird that he feels happy about it? Not happy that Cecil is crying, of course, just… happy that Cecil worries about him? 

  The other boy hadn’t given up on calling him Perfect Carlos, or praising how handsome or smart he was (apparently he wasn’t just a pretty face to Cecil, as he was always interested in whatever Carlos was studying at the moment), but he hadn’t given Cecil any reason to believe he reciprocated his affections, either, and, by now, he was sure Cecil didn’t wanted more than a friendship and the praise and nicknames were nothing but habit. Could… could he be wrong? 

  Is Cecil as in love with him as he claimed the first day? Cecil probably doesn’t even know that he knows that… On the first day, he and Nilanjana were on their way to their next class after lunch, but had to go to their lockers first. Their lockers were together unlike the ones belonging to the rest of the group, so they chatted as they packed some books into their bags and put away some others that weren’t needed. Nilanjana had to rush out because she got a call from home on her cell phone, but told Carlos to wait for her; it was just going to be a minute. That’s when he heard it.

 _“Okay, yeah, but did you see how he smiled at me?”_ Carlos recognized Cecil’s voice, despite hearing it only during lunch. He could tell he was just rounding the corner, because he heard footsteps stopping. He peeked behind his locker to see if he wasn’t wrong. Cecil was with his back to him, talking to Earl, who looked at him with an skeptic expression, then he saw Cecil grasp the redhead’s hands in his, making him wonder if they weren’t more than friends… _“Early, I think I’m in love”._

  Carlos hide behind the lockers again, was… was Cecil talking about him…? His heart raced and he could feel his cheeks heating up.

 _“Dude, you just met him today”_ was the response Earl gave and what made Carlos sure he was the one they were talking about.

 _“Apparently, our Boy Scout here has never heard of_ _‘Love at First Sight’_ ” chided a female voice, remembering now, he can recognize it was Dana. Then she sighed dreamily. _“It’s so romantic! Like a movie!”_

_“Yeah, that smile… gosh, Carlos is perfect, I think…, no, I’m pretty sure I fell in love instantly…”_

  Luckily, before he could drown in his own embarrassment, Nilanjana came back and told him they should get to their next class.

“Yeah, Mom, don’t worry… yeah, I will be home for dinner” Dave says exasperated, bringing Carlos back to the present, and then his friend’s tone softens. “I love you too”, he turns to him. “Alright, done, let me call the Boy Scout and…”

  The door opens before Dave can finish his sentence. A chubby middle aged woman with dark curly hair and a worried expression on her face enters and in less than a second she’s hugging Carlos and pressing him to her chest.

 _“Mi bebé, mi chiquitín especial, mi Carlos…”_ she murmurs against his hair, he thinks she sounds like she’s about to break down crying. 

 It’s a bit embarrassing, yes, but his mother is just worried, so he wraps his arms around her murmuring some comforting words as well.

_“Está bien, tranquila, Mamá, estoy bien. No me pasó nada, ¿ves? Estoy bien, no llores, por favor”_

“Mrs. Marron, I would like to finish our conversation” says Dr. Tamara Hertzwell entering the room, with the nurse that patched him up in tow behind her.

“What’s left to say, Dr. Hertzwell?” his mother responds sharply, letting go of Carlos. “ _ **My son**_ got hurt in a field trip you were in charge of!” Tamara holds her palm up, asking her to speak and the mother cocks an eyebrow, curious on what will the professor come up with.

“I do understand your concerns, Mrs. Marron, and not only I’m deeply sorry for what happened, I’ve talked to my superiors and colleagues at the Night Vale Community College as well, and, giving that Carlos is in his last year of high school, we all agree in offering your son a full scholarship in any science department of his choice as a compensation”, shocked as can be, Carlos looks at his mother but she seems as shocked as he is, with her mouth forming a perfect ‘o’. He looks at the professor again, but she’s looking at Dave. “…this offering will also extend to all the students of the Night Vale High School’s Science Club that were present at today’s field trip”.

“Hold up!” Rosa says, putting her hands on her hips. “Full scholarship, you say? How much are we talking about?” Carlos almost wants to cringe in embarrassment, did she really had to be so blunt about it?

“Enough to cover textbooks, class materials and dorm accommodations” Rosa’s eyes grow wide, that sounds like a lot, really. Tamara fishes out a pamphlet out of her bag and hands it to the nurse who takes and opens it as the professor keeps talking. “Our institution has a lot of scientific fields careers in which we think your son might be a valuable addition, giving his current grades”.

  Carlos wants to desperately say yes, it sounds like the most amazing thing ever, fuck that he almost died, what they’re offering is to pay for his degree! His mother seems to have different ideas, though…

“I have to talk with my husband first…” he can, however, see her resolution faltering. Tamara must be able to see it too, because she smiles a very Cheshire-cat-like smile, it’s creepy.

“I understand, Mrs. Marron, we would like to hold a meeting with you and the other parents on Friday afternoon if Carlos, you and your husband are able to attend, so we can show you the campus and the classes that we hold”.

“We will be there” his mother accepts.

  Tamara leaves, still smiling and Carlos practically throws his arms around his mother’s waist.

“Say yes, say yes, say yes, please, please, _please_ …” he pleads.

“Not yet, Carlos, I’ve to talk to your father about this. God, you’re so naïve! It sounds really fishy, to be honest…” she states, frowning at the pamphlet.

“Don’t disregard it just yet, Rosa” the nurse corrects, approaching her and putting a hand on her shoulder. “The Night Vale Community College is incredibly generous when it comes to students that are eager to learn, my oldest son studies there and my little girl is already earning some credits because of an internship she’s doing at the local radio station”.

“Wait… the radio station?” Carlos mutters as he reads the tag in the nurse’s uniform. It says Nurse Cardinal. “You’re… Dana’s mom?” he looks at Dave, who looks equally shocked as the woman nods.

“That’s right, sweetie” she smiles. “She called me a few minutes ago, wanted to know how you were doing, she let everyone know you’re okay”.

“Oh, guess you don’t have to call Earl then, Dave…”

“Who?” Carlos just blinks at him. “Ah… the Boy Scout! Yeah, sorry, I spaced out for a second there…”

* * *

 

“Carlos, you know you don’t have to do this… right?” Dave tries to coerce him, hands on his shoulders. “Nobody expects you to turn into Superman overnight just because of what happened”.

“I know, Dave, but I need to do this, I feel that if I don’t do it now, when will I?”

“God, you’re talking like you’re a terminal patient… but, whatever, you do you, buddy, and know you have one hundred percent of my support”.

  They are in the edge of the Arby’s parking lot. He is really lucky that Dave offered to come with him; otherwise his mother would have sent him straight home. It’s night already, he isn’t sure how much time he spent in the hospital, well, he would just have to ask his mother later or something. He texts his father, letting him know that he is fine, he just needs to do something before coming home. Carlos needs to busy himself with something, anything will do really, as he prepares himself mentally to do what he is about to do.

“There they are…” Dave lets him know.

  A red classic motorcycle pulls up a few meters away and he stands up from the bench he had been sitting in. There he is, indeed. He sees Cecil saying something to Earl, who is the one driving, before making a run for him. He expects the boy to stop in front of him, but, instead, he almost knocks him down with a crushing hug. It… it doesn’t feel wrong and it doesn’t make him uncomfortable, like he usually feels when he is touched without warning. Despite the pressure in his fresh wounds, the hug is gentle and warm and he almost sighs. He realizes he is hugging Cecil back, as the taller boy sobs quietly on his shoulder. However, he quickly realizes he isn’t crying of grief… Cecil is crying with relief.

“I will leave you to it!” he hears Dave cheerfully say as he walks away. “Yo, Boy Scout! I’m starving; want to grab a bite with me?” 

 “Carlos… _thank the imperfect heavens,_ my dear Carlos… I was…I was just so scared…” the hiccups don’t let him speak clearly, it also doesn’t help the volume he is speaking at is barely above a whisper. “Oh, Carlos… if something happened to you…” more hiccups as his shoulders shake.

“I’m okay…” he says, not knowing how else to comfort him as he pushes away gently, his hands on Cecil’s shoulders. 

  The boy looks like a mess, his dress black shirt and the intern t-shirt he hadn’t cared in changing are wrinkled. His eyes… that purple gaze that Carlos realizes just now that he adores… is so vibrant, even behind his fogged up glasses, his puffy, bloodshot eyes shine with unshed tears. How long had he been crying? Slowly, he brings his hands up to Cecil’s face and removes his glasses, making him blink. He holds the purple glasses in one hand as the other wipes away a treacherous tear that is sliding down the boy’s cheek. Cecil closes his eyes and leans onto Carlos’ hand. When he opens his eyes again that look of sadness and emptiness is replaced with one of complete adoration that makes his chest tighten and his stomach turn, his heart skips a beat as he smiles at him, even though he know his organs are not capable of doing such things.

  Even when crying, he looks beautiful under those strange lights in the sky, right above the Arby’s sign.

“You must think I’m really silly, huh?” Cecil states hoarsely (must be due to all the crying), flashing him a quick and sad smile as he shakes his head, then he clears his throat.

“You’re not silly” Carlos interrupts as the boy takes his glasses from him to wipe them on the hem of his shirt, he puts them back on. 

“Did you need help with anything?”

“I just wanted to see you…” he responds, shrugging his shoulders. It’s not a lie, but Cecil looks at him like he had just told him it was going to rain frogs, then again, this is Night Vale, so maybe that happens and he doesn’t know yet. “Sit with me, would you?”

  They sit on the bench and Cecil shyly, but casually, let his head fall on the Venezuelan boy’s shoulder. It feels nice, so Carlos puts his hand on Cecil’s knee, leaning to be a bit closer to him.

“I really like those lights…” Cecil murmurs absentmindedly. “The ones in the sky above the sign…”

“Me too, Cecil, me too…”

  Meanwhile, inside the Arby’s, Earl and Dave are sitting next to one of the glass walls, sharing the drink from a tall glass of vanilla milkshake with two straws. Occasionally, they look at the couple sitting together at the edge of the parking lot. The black haired boy takes a sip after watching through the window once again, and then he looks at the boy in front of him. Earl is checking his cell phone; his black leather jacket with badges and pins is resting in the back of his chair, letting him see the wrinkled uniform the boy is wearing. Well… that’s really unusual for the redhead, since his uniform always look like it’s fresh out of a laundry service shop. 

“Hey” he calls, and Earl lifts his eyes from the touchscreen to look at him, “any idea of how did Cecil found out about today?”

“The heck of a misunderstanding” his companion explains, shaking his head. “Simone told him…”

“Simone Rigadeu? The college girl that went with us to the field trip?” he echoes as the Boy Scout nods. Dave frowns, taking an angry sip of the milkshake “What’s her problem?” 

“From what Dana told me, Simone felt Cecil had to know what happened from her, because she was there”.

“That doesn’t explain…”

“You remember Cecil’s older brother Cal?” he interrupts him and Dave nods. “Simone… well, she has been Cal’s girlfriend for a couple years now, since high school, I think. Oh, and they also work together in the tattoo parlor, you know?” he asks, but doesn’t wait for an answer this time. “She cares for Cecil a lot too, so she decided to be the one to tell him, but the problem was that Cecil is not as fluent in American Sign Language as he likes to think he is, so he misunderstood whatever it is that she told him and made it worse than it was, so, well… here we are” he looks out the window again. “I’m just glad he’s not crying anymore… I’ve never seen him like that before, and boy, do we have known each other for a long time” he takes another sip from his straw as he finishes.

“I understand that he misunderstood, but everyone in town…”

“Night Vale is small community, news and gossip travel fast here, even if they aren’t exactly true” 

  They both fall silent, enjoying the silence and what’s left of the milkshake. Earl pulls out his phone and opens up the camera app, before snapping a few shots of the couple in the edge of the parking lot.

“What are you doing, Freckles?” 

“Picture for Dana, she won’t forgive me if she finds out I didn’t get her one when I had the chance” he explains shrugging his shoulders.

“Can you text that back to me too? I feel like Rochelle and the guys will like to see that …”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spanish to English Translations…  
> Mi bebé, mi chiquitín especial, mi Carlos = My baby, my special little one, my Carlos  
> Está bien, tranquila, Mamá, estoy bien. No me pasó nada, ¿ves? Estoy bien, no llores, por favor = It’s okay, keep calm, Mom, I’m fine. Nothing happened to me, see? I’m fine, don’t cry, please.  
> Dr. Tamara Hertzwell is an original character that appears in the Welcome to Night Vale bonus episode #1 Minutes.   
> The song Carlos hears on the radio is In the Aeroplane Over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel


	5. Recovery and Envelopes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of Carlos’ accident has shaken his family.

  He had been really lucky. 

  That’s what everybody had said upon hearing he was actually alive. Even Nurse Cardinal had dared to tell him that, while Angels **do not exist** , he must have a guardian one. Those rocks that fell on top of him should have left nothing but a bloody mess in Radon Canyon; however he arrived at the hospital with nothing but bruises and a few cuts. No concussions, no broken bones, nothing serious. When his mother, who was raised catholic, got home he saw her get her old rosary and pray in front of the small wooden cross they hanged on the living room. He faintly heard her thank God for saving him. 

  He may have been raised catholic too, heck, he even took his _primera comunión_ , but he believes in science, not in religion. However, upon mentioning to his mother that _maybe_ it was a _very_ lucky coincidence and not God’s will, he got smacked in the head with a rolled up newspaper because he _‘didn’t get a pass to shit on the Lord’s doing just because you just got out of the hospital'._

  That night, they had Carlos’ favorite for dinner: _tequeños_ and _empanadas_ , how did his father get the ingredients to prepare them? No idea, but they tasted just the same as the ones they used to have back home in Venezuela, and he wasn’t going to complain if his parents spoil him a little bit. He did complain when his mother insisted in tucking him in in bed, because he is almost eighteen, way too old for that kind of thing, but he let her do it, he could swear he saw tears in her eyes when she kissed his forehead and caressed his hair, telling him how much she loves him. His father also joined, telling him that he expressly forbids any further field trips to Radon Canyon, but good job getting himself that scholarship, at to which Rosa scolded him, because that still needed to be addressed.

  His siblings aren’t less affected than his parents. Fabian had come in a bit later to ask if he and _Señor Bigotitos_ , his favorite stuffed bunny, could sleep with him for the night. As the responsible older brother he is, he lets him crawl under the covers and curl up to him. He then starts telling him some rabbit facts he can think off the top of his head, which always seems to calm him down. He doesn’t even think nature facts are actual science, but, anything for his brother, he guesses. 

“Bunnies also get lonely if they are alone, because they like company… they’re very social creatures” he explains softly, caressing his brother’s hair, not much different than his own.

“You’re forgetting a very important fact…” comes the voice from the doorway, is Carolina, dressed in her striped white and lime green pajamas and clutching a romance novel under her arm. She’s smiling. “They have very good eyesight, due to all the carrots they eat”

“What?” is Carlos’ response as his sister crawls into the bed, lying on Carlos’ side opposite of Fabian.

“Well, I’ve never seen a rabbit with glasses, have you?”

  The siblings laugh.

“That’s a very funny joke” Carlos agrees. “It is also a scientifically accurate one, since rabbits _do_ have very good eyesight; they have an almost three hundred and sixty degrees vision, even though they are born with their eyes shut. It is, however, not due to their diet, since carrots are high in sugar and should only be consumed in small amounts, they don’t naturally eat root vegetables… or… or fruits…”

  He stops himself when Carla enters the room on her short baby pink pajamas and her sleeping mask that is holding her recently dyed blonde hair back. There’s a magazine on her hand. They may share similar names and both are loners, Carla by choice and Carlos by nature, but that’s where their similarities end. Yes, they may be really close in age but, when Carla enters a room, she does so like she owns the place, when Carlos does the same thing he does it like an uninvited guest. Carla had a ton of friends in Caracas, Carlos had acquaintances. Heck, even their taste in partners is different, they both like boys, yes, but Carla likes boys that look like they will grow up to have an extensive criminal record (that _bad boy attitude_ , as their mother calls it, have always been the common factor in all of her ex-boyfriends), Carlos likes… well, Carlos likes dorky boys with exotic purple eyes and eccentric fashion choices.

  Regardless of any of that, he loves Carla as much as he loves Carolina and Fabian, but it’s still taken aback when she sits at the foot of the bed and starts to flip through the pages of her teenage magazine like it’s nobody’s business. His siblings notice it too.

“Did you come here to ask us to shut up?” Carolina asks.

“No, I heard you guys and wanted to see what was up, what? Is it illegal now?” she retorts, cocking an eyebrow, but doesn’t wait for an answer. “Whatever, hey Carlos?” she calls, looking at the oldest boy; he is the one that cocks an eyebrow this time. “I’m really glad you’re okay…” she confesses, making him smile and, in turn, makes her smile back. That’s another similarity they have, verbally expressing feelings out loud is hard for the both of them. Carla expresses her discomfort through anger and tears; Carlos does it through silence and avoidance of what it’s making him upset. She swings her legs to lay them over the bed and rests her back on the wall. 

  Then she goes back to her magazine, like nothing happened. So he keeps talking about rabbit facts, Fabian falls asleep shortly after, and so do Carla and Carolina. Carlos smiles at his sleeping siblings. He pulls Carla’s sleeping mask over her eyes and takes off Carolina’s glasses leaving them on the nightstand next to his own, and then he takes both the magazine and the book from his sisters’ hands and places them on the bedside table as well. He settles for the night, finding he can’t sleep. There’s not much space for tossing and turning on the crowded bed, but it’s not a problem for Carlos, he doesn’t need to move much, no…

  What he needs is his mind to stop running, because, as he stares at the ceiling in the dark, the weight of today’s event is finally getting to him. He wants to laugh bitterly, he almost _died_. Huh, why isn’t that simple sentence affecting him? Maybe is because he is young, because death seems like an strange and faraway concept to him… but when he realizes that today’s rushed ‘I love you’ to his dad before he left, the quick kiss he pressed to his mother cheek as he picked his lunch and bolted for the front door, because Dave was already there, waiting for him so they can walk to school together and he was so excited for the field trip… _that could have been the last thing his parents would see of him._ What about the condescending way Carla greeted him this morning (because she _‘woke up on a bad mood’_ ) at to which he responded by ignoring her? The way he didn’t even shouted Carolina’s name on his way out to wish her a good day like he always did because of his excitement for the stupid field trip? At least he didn’t forget to ruffle Fabian’s hair when he passed him in the hallway before breakfast. All of that could have been the last he saw of his family…

Today, he could have died at seventeen. A few months shy of begin eighteen and having never kissed ( _or been kissed by_ ) anyone. 

That makes him think of Cecil, how he would have liked to kiss him softly in the lips once in that parking lot (and the mere idea makes him blush a _lot_ ) instead of the shy goodbyes they exchanged and he remembers how he even promised that he was going to give him an exclusive interview for the school’s newspaper (which Cecil is part of) about the field trip and it’s outcome just yesterday. How did Cecil feel when he heard the news about him begin _dead_? The crying mess in the Arby’s wasn’t _his_ Cecil, that’s for sure. His Cecil is a fatalistic and dark kid, but he smiles in a way that could light up a room, he laughs in a way he finds extremely contagious, he has the most expressive eyes he has ever seen… after today, he knows for sure what is Cecil going to say if he manages to find the courage to utter the words _‘Cecil, will you go out on a date with me?’_

That realization combined with some light from the sky that filters through his window and letting him see shadows that surround him, makes him feel extremely comfortable and warm. He finally can abandon himself to sleep.

 Once he falls asleep, however, he doesn’t rest easy. 

 In his dream, he’s back under the rocks again. This time he’s fully conscious, and everything is dark, even though he can see a couple rays of sunlight that manage to sneak through his prison. He feels all the weight of the rocks crushing him, immobilizing his arms and legs, he can’t move and he can’t scream for help, no matter how hard he tries. There must be someone out there anyways, right? But he doesn’t hear anything outside of his own ragged breathing. The desert is silent. 

  He knows he is dreaming, the way you only know in dreams, but there’s not much he can do about it.

 He can’t breathe, it’s like the weight of the rocks increases by the second, and he just knows he doesn’t have much time left… his mouth feels dry, like he just ate a mouthful of sand, is nobody going to help him? Something near his ankle moves, at first he thinks someone is finally pulling off the rocks, but quickly realizes he hears a sound…

  It’s the sound of a rattlesnake that is currently curling up around one of his ankles. Now, the desert critter hadn’t come alone, he can feel spiders tangling in his hair, scorpions crawl up and down his arms, snakes slither into his clothes, he doesn’t see them, but he _feels_ them everywhere.

  He wakes up with a gasp.

  He takes a moment to even his breathing, while covering his eyes with his free hand. Well, it’s hard to feel upset when you wake up to the warm embrace of your siblings who… are all on top of you, making it hard to breathe…

  Well, yeah, that explains a lot of things.

  His brother had moved during the night it seems as he is sleeping over Carlos’ chest, it’s not really strange as he has been known to fuss while sleeping since he was a baby. Carolina’s weight, on one side, is numbing one of his arms, while in the other Carla is sleeping with an arm around him and Fabian. Yeah, he is not moving anytime soon. Also, he _really_ needs to go to the bathroom.

  The door cracks open, and his father peeks his head in, before smiling and letting out a soft aww at the sight.

“Um… help?” he says softly as to no wake his siblings up.

“In a minute” he agrees, entering to the room and pulling out his phone.

“What are you…?” he doesn’t get to finish his question when he hears the sound of the camera app. “Papa!”

“Wait a minute, you impatient child” his father chides him. “Rosa, _querida_ , will you come for a sec?” he calls.

  Carlos groans in annoyance as his mother enters the room and laughs.

“Can you guys help me? I need to go to the bathroom!” he complains

  They do help him in between some cooing and laughs. His father picks his brother up and carries him out of the room, while his mother wakes up Carolina, letting him free. He gets up as the younger sister is sleepily making her way towards her own room, romance novel in one hand, glasses in the other. He pulls the blanket to cover Carla, who is somehow still sleeping, but who is also going to surely be super mad about the photos when she finds out.

  It’s morning and it’s a bit cold, because the sun hadn’t fully risen yet. He goes to the bathroom, takes a shower and changes. When he is done, his father is waiting for him with warm pancakes and milk coffee. His mother, who doesn’t have to work until later, is there too, usually she just sleeps in, but not today, it seems.

  Later, he is reading a book in the living room, because Night Vale television is boring and full of propaganda, when his father informs him he has guests. Dave and the guys had all come to see how he’s doing and even brought him some candy as a gift. Dana is with them as well, bringing him news about a certain purple eyed boy that is still sleeping because of emotional exhaustion; she left Earl staying with him.

  He doesn’t know how he feels about that. 

  Sooner than he expects it, and he doesn’t know if it’s time begin weird again or _what_ , Monday rolls around. 

  When he had first come to Night Vale, it was like he and his friends were invisible. Nobody had approached them on their first day, like it’s normal with students in a new school. Well, not _nobody_ , there’s Dana, Earl and Cecil, but only because the latter wanted to know his name. 

  Now, after his accident, it’s like someone had flipped a switch. He got _at least_ ten high-fives in the hallway, two boys and one girl from his class handed him their numbers, and even Marcus Vansten himself has asked if he would like to have lunch with him. To be honest, he didn’t even knew about that guy before today, when he approached him and he politely declined his offer, telling him he was going to have lunch with his friends instead, but he was invited if he wanted to join.

  It was like he passed some sort of strange test, like he is now considered part of Night Vale. It’s strange, yes, like most things in this town, but it feels nice. Maybe he should ask Cecil about it… if he manages to come up with a smooth way to say it that doesn’t involves smiling like a creep without saying anything. That’s the only thing he had managed to exchange with Cecil all day long. They have been giving each other shy smiles since early morning, not knowing what to say after what happened on Friday night.

“Dude, did you really told him no?” Dave asks in disbelief as they walk down towards the cafeteria for lunch, Carlos just shrugs. “Carlos he came to school in a _freaking helicopter_ ”.

“So?”

“Aren’t you a little bit impressed?”  he asks again.

“His lack of environmental conscience impresses _me_ ” Louisa criticizes bitterly, walking alongside them. When they had started school, she had her hair dyed in a pretty electric blue color, which she rigorously kept from showing roots that could reveal what the natural color of her hair is; now she has changed it to a mossy green that has a little nice contrast with her pale skin and her blue eyes. “He’s Stan’s neighbor, you know?, and, let me tell you, for what I’ve seen that family must use smaller dollar bills the way normal people use napkins”

“That’s not a nice thing to say…” Carlos objects with a frown. “I mean, technically you didn’t say anything _bad,_ but your tone…” he makes a face and Louisa nods, understanding.

  They enter the cafeteria, where the others are waiting already eating. He smiles at Cecil from across the table and he smiles back. Dave and Earl look at each other; both are getting really tired of their boys’ bullshit. Dana silently judges, but doesn’t comment on it as she eats. 

  As they’re eating, Marcus Vansten enters to the cafeteria, a few people turn to look at him. He’s accompanied by another boy.

  And, surprisingly enough, they both sit on Carlos’ table. They don’t say hi or anything, they just sit with their lunch boxes, while the boy accompanying him has a normal lunch consisting of a couple sandwiches and a can of coke, Marcus has a box full of sushi pieces, but leaves it untouched as he turns towards Carlos.

“You know… nobody ever says no to _me_ ” he starts.

“Um, I’m sorry?” he apologizes; not really knowing what is Marcus expecting him to say.

“I like your attitude” he points out, as he takes a few envelopes with a color that looks like metallic blue from the inner pocket of his designer light blue jacket. “Would you and your friends like to come to my birthday party?” he says, smiling slightly, almost unnoticeably, handing him the envelopes.

“You’re inviting all of us? That’s really nice, thank you!” Carlos says, before flashing a sincere smile, he is not used to people inviting him to parties, after all. 

“I will you see you there, then. Hey, Jake, do you want to go to the terrace to finish our lunches?” he says to the boy next to him, and he nods, picking up his stuff.

  Marcus and Jake leave.

“Does this school even have a terrace?” Mark asks, cocking an eyebrow.

“He must mean the roof or something…” Rochelle offers, shrugging her shoulders.

“Marcus doesn’t really hands out the invitations for his parties, consider yourself special, Carlos” Dana notes. “He usually just throws them out from his helicopter, and if you catch them, you catch them”.

“Hey, there are only seven envelopes here” Dave says, since he had taken them from Carlos to see them.

“Yeah, I’ve got the missing three” Cecil declares, leaving the identical envelopes over the table. “Marcus handed them to me before lunch”.

“Didn’t you just say he doesn’t do that?” Stan inquires.

“He does when he’s inviting important people” Dana elaborates. “And Ceec is going to be important one day, don’t you know? Anyways, I heard Jake and Marcus are dating!” she gossips softly, leaning forward and putting a hand next to her mouth, as if whispering a secret.

“Aw, really? That’s so cute!” Cecil answers her and the conversation drifts away from the topic of the party. “Hey, Early, remember when Marcus had a crush on you?”

“Shut up!” the redhead complains, clearly embarrassed and with his cheeks acquiring an interesting and deep shade of red, making everybody in the table start to laugh.

* * *

 _“Tan pronto yo te vi, lo pude descubrir, el amor a primera vista no funciona en mí…”_ Carlos turns down the music a bit, before turning to Dave.

“Can I tell you a secret?”

  Dave leaves the controller aside and turns to look at Carlos. His mom is working late again and his friend has asked if he could perhaps stay the night at his place, he didn’t wanted to impose or anything like that, the blue eyed boy had to roll his eyes at that as he reminded Carlos that he is _always_ welcome here. He can sense that something is wrong, and that something has been wrong for the past couple of days, he didn’t pry, mostly because he knows Carlos will tell him on his own time. It was most likely him begin as tired as can be since he had spent the last two weeks trying to spend as much time as physically possible with his family and friends, no wonder the poor thing was exhausted beyond belief.

“Sure, what’s up?”

“I… I think I want to ask Cecil out on a date”

“Hey that’s great!” Carlos winces. “But…?”

“I don’t know…” he admits, looking at his lap as he played with his fingers. “What if he says no?”

“Dude, he had a breakdown at the radio station when he thought you died!" Carlos opens his mouth to speak but Dave cuts him off before he even begins. “Carlos, man, I love you, you’re my bro, but if you dare to even _suggest_ that Cecil was _just begin nice_ , I will have to _punch_ you, and we don’t want that, do we?” his friend doesn’t answers. “Good”.

  They stay in silence for a bit. Dave looks at the clock and realizes he is actually quite hungry. Huh, guess he was so focused on the videogame they were playing he didn’t really pay attention. He gets up, planning to go to the kitchen and maybe prepare a bite to eat.

“Hey, do you-…?”

“I think I’m afraid”

  He pauses, looking at his friend over his shoulder.

“Of what, dude?” his eyes widen and he sits next to him again. “Carlos, your parents…?” he leaves the question hanging on the air and the Venezuelan boy looks at him like he doesn’t understand. “Oh, my… they don’t know, do they? Man, you know you can always stay here if things go south, right?”

“Things go south…?” he repeats, then finally seems to catch up, starting to laugh. “No, no, don’t worry, Papa and Mama know I’m gay. My siblings too, heck, even my abuela and cousins! They know and they’re super supportive, my sister Carla and my cousin Diego had even tried to get me a couple dates back in Venezuela. They won’t even flinch if I bring a boyfriend home, it’s fine…” he smiles fondly for a few seconds, before turning serious again. “I’m just worried that… ugh, Cecil seems to have, like, this idea of me? He calls me perfect and handsome, and smart, and a million more things that I’m actually _too_ tired to recall, but that’s not me… it will _never_ be me, Dave”.

“Come to the kitchen with me, I think there is left-over pizza” he answers, Carlos cocks an eyebrow as he follows his friend, but doesn’t say anything as they get up from the living room floor, in front of the TV. “The glasses are in that cabinet, can you get two?” he asks pointing at it. “There’s some soda in the fridge…” barely a minute later they’re back at the living room, now eating pizza and drinking soda. “Okay, so, do you want to watch a movie while we have this conversation?” he asks, flipping through some titles on Netflix.

“Can I ask you a quick question first?” 

“Sure, man. Oh, also, we’re probably gonna be watching Disney”

“Do you have a crush on someone?” he asks, as he pushes his glasses higher up the bridge of his nose. “You don’t like anyone from our friend group, or school?”

“Um…” he pouts as he thinks about for a second while pulling a blanket over both of their laps. “Nah, I don’t think so…? You’re begin _awfully_ specific, _Carlitos_ , why?”

Carlos just shrugs.

“To be honest, I thought you had a crush on Rochelle”

“What? Um, no, man I do not. I mean, Roch is a great friend and all, but I don’t like her that way, also I’m letting go of girls for now” he comments, taking a sip of his soda.

“You’re looking for a boyfriend, then?” 

“I’m not really _looking_ , but if someone catches my eye I guess I will do something about it, nobody has done it yet, though”.

“And Earl?”

“What about him?”

“You were totally looking at him the other day, you know, when he and the other Boy Scouts tried to stop that wild animal that was running around school.”

Dave rolls his eyes, a couple days before a wild, probably rabid, animal from the sand wastes somehow found it’s way into the school hallways and it was up to the Boy Scout Troop to stop it, since that how it’s done here. They wouldn’t have really noticed, if it wasn’t for Dana and Cecil barging into the lab to tell them the animal was on that very same floor and _how about we barricade the door until Earl and the Scouts solve this_.

“I won’t lie to you, Carlos, Earl _is_ actually cute with those freckles and all, but I was looking at him because he had a motherfucking blood splatter on the side of his face from what I assume was the animal, and, I don’t know if you got the memo, but blood is so not-sexy, like at all. Though I can’t believe the first thing he asked was ‘did it get on my uniform?’” Carlos laughs. “Weren’t we talking about you and radio boy, anyways?” his friends stops laughing and bites his lip. “Carlos, you’re the one who brought this up, so don’t get too flustered! Where did we left off, honey?”

“Cecil and his idea of my inexistent perfection that apparently only he can see…” 

“Did you know Cecil says you chew food too loud?” the Venezuelan boy’s eyes widen. “Ohh, so you _didn’t_ know, okay, let me tell you a little story. So, last… Thursday, I think? It was me, the Boy Scout, Roch, Dana and Cecil while we were waiting at the cafeteria for y’all, so I was talking to Roch and then I heard him say something about you so I was like _‘what did you say about my bestie, you bitch_ ’, I was about to throw hands! But before I can say anything Dana is like _‘weren’t you in love with him?’_ and he goes _‘well, duh, Dana! Even Greek Gods are flawed, and not even Eros himself can come close to Carlos!’_ and then he laughs and was like _‘oh but please don’t tell him I said that!’_ and… oh… oh, shit…”

“That only proves my hypothesis, Dave!” Carlos complains, ignoring the last part.

“What the hell? It does not, will you shut up and listen?! Jesus Christ, Carlos!” Dave huffs in annoyance at Carlos stubbornness then clicks his tongue. “Listen you irredeemable dumbass, does Cecil thinks you’re perfect? Well, yes, he made that pretty clear! Did he fucking compare you to Eros, the gay Greek god of love and sex? Yes, he did! Did he-…?”

“Wait, what?!”

“Don’t interrupt me!” he scolds. “Point is, while you’re indeed perfect in his eyes, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t see or acknowledge your flaws! He _accepts_ them! He loves you, you dipshit!”

“You don’t know that!”

“Carlos, maybe you weren’t on your right mind, because of all the medicine they gave you in the hospital, but that night at the Arby’s, Cecil was _devastated_ by what happened to you! You don’t cry like that over someone whose perfection you idealized, you cry like that _when your fucking heart is breaking!_ Cecil loves you, Carlos, but the question is… do you love him back?”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The name of Fabian’s stuffed bunny (“Señor bigotitos”) means Mr. Little Whiskers.
> 
> Jake is Marcus Vansten’s personal assistant, he is mentioned in the live show ‘The Debate’.
> 
> The song that Carlos and Dave are listening to in the last scene is ‘Perfecta’ by the Argentinian band Miranda!, the lyrics above mean: “As soon as I saw you I could discover, love at first sight doesn’t work on me…”
> 
> Eros is, in some versions of the Greek Myths, the son of Aphrodite (Goddess of love, beauty and sexuality) and Ares (God of war), he is known, just as Dave says, as the God of love and sexual attraction, however, he is also known as the protector of love (both sexual and romantic) between men.


	6. Parties and sneak-outs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marcus Vansten holds a party. Some things are said, sadly, not all of them are good.

  He can do this.  

  The Saturday of the party is here. His parents didn’t have any trouble allowing him to go, which was nice, since he is really excited about it. Aside from the excitement, giving that this is basically his first real high school party, he is also nervous, but not exactly because of the party in itself. His father had dropped him off there and he instantly felt a bit relieved when he spotted Dave already waiting for him at the entrance.

 “Are you nervous?” Dave asks, putting a hand on his shoulder as they enter the over-crowded manor, looking for their friends. Carlos nods shyly. “Don’t be, try to relax, everything will go according to plan! I already told the others so our chances of failure are minimal if any!” he tries to reassure him as he breathes in, and then out, slowly. 

  He can do this. He definitely can do this.

  Tonight he, Carlos Alejandro Marron, is going to ask Cecil Gershwin Palmer out on a date. 

  The plan is simple. First off, Cecil and Carlos need to be alone, so the girls are going to distract Dana (he thought it was going to look weird if _all_ of them do that, but, apparently and according to Rochelle, is a girl’s thing to hang out all together during a party. He _still_ thinks it’s weird, but whatever), meanwhile Dave will take care of Earl, and Mark and Stan will make up an excuse to leave (because, according to Nilanjana, if they all go with Earl it’s going to look unrealistic and suspicious, again, weird, but _also again_ , whatever). Stan mentioned that, in order for it to look natural, they can’t do it right away; they will just wait until Carlos gives the signal (Dave is in charge of the _back-up signal_ in case Carlos chickens out).

  They had come up with this plan yesterday morning while on the lab when Dave announced to his friends what his intentions in the party were, just before their parents picked them up for their meeting in the college to talk about their scholarships. He was kind of embarrassed that he told everyone, but also _extremely_ relieved to know he counts with them.

  Yeah, he can do this.

 _“Watch out, Casanova”_ Dave leans in to whisper. “Here comes your boyfriend”, he adds quickly pointing discreetly towards the staircase.

 Oh, _god_ , he can’t do this.

  Cecil is coming down the staircase. He’s looking around, like he’s looking for something, _maybe someone_? Maybe. He’s using a soft bubblegum pink crop top that allows you to see he is also wearing yellow fishnets gloves and black skinny leather jeans with velvet black high heels. He looks _stunning_ ; he even let his hair fall onto his face instead of combing it back like he usually does. At his side is Earl, wearing his leather jacket and a pair of checkered red knee-length shorts with combat boots, and at the other side is Dana, wearing a tie-dyed lilac and blue crop top and skinny ripped jeans with cream colored cowboy boots.

  Both groups meet somewhere in the middle. Pleasantries are exchanged and looks are complimented; Carlos is silently cursing himself for not dressing up a bit more. The geeky Dr. Who t-shirt he’s wearing is not going to impress anyone; neither will the ripped jeans or the old red flannel currently tied by the sleeves around his waist. At least he remembered to tie his hair, that’s good. 

  Mark suggests they should get a drink, Carlos shyly confesses he doesn’t really like the taste of alcohol, so he isn’t planning in having any. While it does earn a couple of half-hearted encouragement comments, his friends leave it alone and don’t say anything else when he grabs a can of coke. Earl isn’t drinking either, so he is not the only one, good. Louisa kindly remains her boyfriend that he has to drive them both back home, so he better just drink one beer and that’s it. 

  The conversation drifts from there, Rochelle is beyond excited because her parents had promised to let her use the car every once in a while, once she gets her driving license. Carlos is curious about that. Back in Venezuela, most of his classmates either walked back home, were picked up by their parents or took the bus; he himself was part of the group who did the latter. Getting a car was nowhere near his priorities. 

  They talk, about nothing and everything, and giving that Cecil is sitting right next to him, he doesn’t need anything else. He forgets completely about the plan and doesn’t think anything when Mark and Stan leave to _‘go get another drink’_ , but he thinks is weird when the girls also leave to have _girl-bonding time_. It’s when Dave asks Earl if he would go outside with him for a smoke, even though they both know very well that the redhead doesn’t smokes, that he realizes the plan is executing itself. He tries really hard not to panic as his best friend leaves with the Boy Scout. In which moment did he gave the signal?

“I really like how you did your make-up” he blurts out in a moment of panic, looking for ways to start a conversation. Cecil smiles like nothing is wrong, though, so maybe he hasn’t screwed it up yet. “Did you do it yourself?”

“Actually, Dana helped me a bit” he admits, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. “I did the eyeshadow” he points towards the glittery golden over his eyelids, “and Dana helped me with the eyeliner because I’m not good at doing the cat-eye thing, then she insisted on doing my lipstick too”, he looks at his plump lips, covered in a pink lip gloss. “Does it look good?” if he is fishing for a compliment, it doesn’t even show, with the way he tilts his head curiously and look at him like he just asked what time it is.

“You look gorgeous” he says without even thinking in what’s coming out of his lips and before he can regret begin so blunt, Cecil’s face lights up, so he doesn’t correct himself. 

“You look great too” he smiles at him, as he moves over the couch they’re both sitting in, so he is facing him and his elbow is resting on the back of the couch, his cheek in his hand. Carlos imitates him, so he’s facing him too. They smile.

“You know, I don’t understand a lot of the things that happen around here” he starts, “but there’s one that I feel I would never understand”.

“What is it, Dear Carlos?”

“How can someone as amazing and exotic as you be interested in someone like me?” he furrows his brows in a frown, it’s not exactly the question he is supposed to ask him, but _he has to know_ , what does Cecil see in him? What it’s exactly what makes him perfect in his eyes? Cecil doesn’t seem to understand what he is talking about, as he tilts his head slightly to the side again. Gosh, how can someone be so cute? “I- I mean…” Carlos clears his throat, thinking how to properly express what he means. “I know that, despite you calling me perfect, I’m no Brad Pitt, I’m too chubby, all I wear are these big silly coke-bottle glasses” he pushes them up the bridge of his nose out of habit, “and nerdy t- shirts and I’ve a really weird sense of humor, I mean, I basically talk about science non-stop, so I don’t understand how you could you like someone as below average as I am”.

“You done?” he asks with a knowing smile and he nods. “First off…, exotic?” Cecil laughs and Carlos feels his cheeks heat up. “That’s… well, nobody has ever called me that before…, _exotic_ , huh, it’s nice” he smiles. “I’m not that unusual, really, I know not all boys our age use colors that are usually labeled for women or make-up” he points to his pink shirt, then to his eyeshadow “or wear dress shirts and ties to school, but clothes are just clothes. Outside of that I’m average too”.

“No, you’re unique” he corrects, frowning. 

“And so are you…” he counterattacks. “Why am I unique?”

“A fair question” Carlos concedes, “but you haven’t answered mine”. He wants to say so much more than that, he wants to say how much Cecil’s eyes remind him of the purple shade of twilight in the sky, how intrigued he is by his tattoos (mostly, he wants to know how far they extend into Cecil’s skin), how soothing he thinks his voice is, how it makes him shiver when he is saying his name… but he doesn’t. He just waits for an answer.

“A fair answer” he echoes, his hand stops supporting his cheek to brush a rebel strand of Carlos’ hair behind his ear, the touch is as soft as a feather and as gentle as a caress, so the Venezuelan boy almost forgets how to breathe. His arm retracts to his original position “But, in the matter of your… description of yourself, I think you’re not begin fair at all, my darling”, he did definitely not tremble at that term of affection, nope, not all. “All those things you say you’re? Yes, they’re correct, Carlos, I can see it, I’ve eyes” he seems amused. “However, I don’t see how they can be _bad_. So what if you’re chubby? Or what if you wear nerdy t-shirts? They’re a part of who you’re and I like every single one of those beautiful parts. Also, those glasses of yours are actually kind of cute and I think your enthusiasm for science is inspiring, _among other things_ ” he winks at him and Carlos is left to wonder what _‘among other things’_ is supposed to mean. “In conclusion, you shouldn’t put yourself down like that, my perfectly imperfect Carlos”.

“I just don’t want to disappoint you…”

“Oh, sweet Carlos, the only way in which you could disappoint me is by telling me that you’re straight…” he answers with a soft smile. 

“Yeah, that’s not happening anytime soon” they both laugh. “Oh, hey, I love that song” he comments after a couple moments of silence, it’s a soothing melody, but he wasn’t expecting a song _like that_ to play in a high school party.

“Oh? Me too! I didn’t know you liked George Michael!”

“I do! But this is actually Wham” he corrects; halfway through the sentence he realizes he shouldn’t have said anything. He really does have a horrible habit of correcting people. “Um, I mean, George Michael it’s the one who sings it, yes, it was even intended to be his first single, but he released it when he was still in Wham with Andrew Ridgeley”, better sound like he is infodumping instead of correcting.

“Oh! I didn’t know that! I also can’t ever remember the name of the other guy who was in Wham with him either, Andrew Ridgeley, you say? Wow, Carlos I didn’t know you were such a music expert!” he answers, delighted.

“Well, I’m no expert, really! But there’s…” he hesitates, takes a deep breath and continues, “there’s something related to music that I’m seventy-five percent sure I’m good at, do… do you want to see?” he asks and Cecil nods enthusiastically. So he clears his throat and stands up, stretching his hand out for the purple eyed boy to take “Cecil… do… would you…?” he clears his throat again. “Would like to da-dance… with me, Cecil?” 

“Oh, Carlos” Cecil’s face lights up like a Christmas tree; he takes his hand and stands up as well. “I wouldn’t dance with anybody else, even if Antonio Banderas himself asked me to”.

  They go to the dancefloor, hand-in-hand, Carlos takes him to the center of all the dancing couples and Cecil almost immediately hooks his arms around his neck, as he giggles telling him that he is a terrible dancer and he apologizes if he is not the best partner, but just Carlos smiles at him as he puts his hands on Cecil’s waist and guides him to dance at the rhythm of the music. Yeah, this is nice. 

  Carlos used to take dance classes when he was a child; he wanted to play soccer like the rest of the kids, but the only league in his neighbourhood was a high school league and his mother was afraid the other boys could hurt him on accident. In the next family reunion Diego mocked him for not begin able to get into the team, at to which their Abuela Leticia scolded him, Carlos loves his grandmother, she is actually the one that got him into dancing, begin the one that taught him how to, even signing him up for classes.

“You’re a really good dancer” Cecil says, smiling sweetly.

“Thanks” he smiles back. “Cecil, there is… there is something I would like to ask you…” __

* * *

 

  Dave takes another drag of his cigarette, staring at the beautiful garden that extends behind the Vansten Mansion; they must be really wealthy to have a garden that big and well-kept in the middle of the desert. He is at the balcony, away from the party, but still close enough to see what’s happening behind him indoors, where the dancefloor is, and, of course, he can see Carlos and Cecil dancing to that cheesy 80’s pop song that sounds familiar but he can’t remember. The dancefloor is really packed with couples dancing. Man, it’s almost like all the teens of Night Vale had gathered together for the party. He turns to look at his companion; the redheaded Boy Scout is right next to him, sipping from a can of coke. They’re both leaning on the marble railing of the balcony. Earl turns to look at him.

“What?”

“Oh, nothing, but, hey, thanks for playing along”

“It’s no problem” he smiles to him and his smile is contagious, it always is. Soon, he is smiling as well. The Boy Scout looks over his shoulder. “They look really cute together, don’t you think?” there’s an edge in his voice of something he can’t quite place, melancholy, maybe? Longing, perhaps? He turns a bit and looks over too, just to see if they’re talking about the same couple and, yeah, he is still looking at Cecil and Carlos, could it… could it be that his Boy Scout…? Whatever, it’s none of his business, after all.

“Yeah, it’s a bit cheesy for me, though” he shrugs, looking back at the garden. Earl cocks an eyebrow. “I’m not really into grand gestures” he shrugs. “I used to have a girlfriend that was always bothered by that, not the full bitchy _why-don’t-you-love-me_ kind of bothered, more like she would roll her eyes and laugh, telling me that I was a lost cause” he laughs. “We broke up after… what? Two months? She was already dating someone else before I moved here from California”.

“Ouch”.

“Nah, we broke up on friendly terms and remained friends after, though, we haven’t spoken since I came here”, he doesn’t want to talk about that, so he slightly changes the subject. “What about you? Left any broken hearts behind you yet?”

“Well, um, I had my first date with Alondra Ortiz” he cocks an eyebrow, because that name sounds familiar, Earl notices and smiles smugly. “She’s Mrs. Ortiz’s daughter”, Dave starts to laugh and the other boy waits a bit before continuing, “Cecil set us up. It wasn’t bad, we had fun, I guess, but it didn’t felt like a date, more like hanging out with a friend, you know?” he knows is a rhetoric question, but still nods, brushing away the ashes that had formed at the tip of his cigarette, before bringing it to his lips again. “Then I dated this girl, Melony, and, again, Cecil had to set us up, because I was too shy to ask her out. Everything was fine for a few weeks and the she just forgot me”.

“Found someone else?”

“No, like, literally forgot me, she didn’t know who I was, despite, you know, growing up together in the same town where everybody knows everybody and going to school in the same classes for years”.

“Damn, that’s cold; did she hit her head or something?”

“As far as I know, she didn’t” he shrugs. “I was like the only person she couldn’t remember, don’t ask why, I don’t know. So, I did what I thought was right and called the whole thing off; I haven’t dated someone since then”.

“Intense, dude” he answers, finishing his cigarette and, not knowing why, he adds: “are you interested in anyone right now?”

“Yeah, I am” he answers, but doesn’t elaborate or look at him, resting his elbows on the marble railing again instead. Did Earl’s green (so, so light, that is almost a yellowy-green) eyes always shone like that or is he noticing just now? Is it because of the lights around? Just like Dana and Cecil, Earl is not noticeable in a crowd, not when you have classmates with six arms like Pamela Winchell or natural blue hair like Donald Pennebaker. Until you saw them up-close that’s it. He wasn’t taken aback when he saw Cecil’s purple eyes, it somehow made sense, just by seeing him he realized he would be the kind of person to wear colored contacts under framed glasses (even if he would later find out that they weren’t in fact contacts). However, he had to do a double take that first day he saw Earl with his yellowy-green eyes and slit pupils, those eyes that resembled a snake’s.

  They’re silent for a few minutes, enjoying the barely cold breeze and the sight of the garden illuminated by small lights. 

  Recently, he started paying more attention to Earl, and it really had nothing to do with that conversation he had with Carlos when they had the sleepover at his house, but with the fact that he heard Rochelle mentioning she has never seen (or heard) the redhead _laughing_ and Dave was pretty sure that she had to be wrong. He had seen him not only smiling (or a twitch on his lips that resembles a smile, at least), but also sharing a couple of witty comments. He remembers specifically one day, which is very memorable because it was the day he started at Night Vale High and the day he counts as the beginning of his friendship with Carlos, he knows Earl laughed when Cecil scolded Dana for ratting him out on wanting to know the Venezuelan boy’s name, it wasn’t a really loud laugh, more like a quiet chuckle, noticeable enough that Cecil turned to face him and scold _him_ instead. Dave remembers Earl’s eyes lighted up in a really cute way when he laughed. 

  All his friends do say that Earl is a little serious and stoic for an eighteen-year-old, but he did think it was kind of charming. He doesn’t really talk or laugh much, he would grant them that, but mostly because Cecil is the one who tends to do most of the talk, so the poor thing is stuck nodding or commenting whatever his best friend is going on about. Coming to think of it, even when Cecil isn’t around Earl doesn’t talk that much and this _is_ in fact the longest conversation (about something so personal at least) they had in the almost seven months they have known each other… even, then, it’s not like the freckled boy is a stranger to him or something, they actually know each other pretty well, in fact.

 He is still pondering about it when he feels Earl laying a hand over his. They look at each other and the redhead smiles somewhat shyly at him. His cheeks heat up as he realizes what the gesture means, what Earl is trying to imply, giving what they were talking about barely moments ago is kind of obvious, he covers it up by letting out the laugh bubbling up his throat.

 _“Really,_ Harlan?” he asks, cocking an eyebrow and realizing it sounds horribly like he is mocking him when he tries to take his hand away. He doesn’t let him; he just grasps his hand gently in his and interlocks their fingers. “You’re…” he tries to find a word, but the only thing that comes to his mind is how Earl and his freckles look in the dim light, he laughs “You’re so cute, _Boy Scout”,_ the way he says it has a different connotation than the one he playfully tends to use. 

  It is certainly curious, he wasn’t aware until now of the fact that he has a crush on Earl Harlan of all people, but… yeah, this could work, and, _maybe,_ he can be the one that makes the Boy Scout start laughing more often. They don’t say anything as they turn to look at the garden again, words are unnecessary when their hands are still holding each other’s like that.

  Cecil, on his part, almost struggles to keep up with Carlos. Well, nobody ever said that running behind someone while in heels in the middle of a crowded party is easy, but he is going to lose Carlos if he stops to take the high-heeled shoes off. He tries his best not to fall as he stumbles into the garden. Nobody is outside because of the chill breeze and the fact that both the drinks and the improvised dancefloor are in the main room of the manor, meaning to say in the first floor.

  What happened? Everything was going great! They were dancing and laughing, and Carlos said something about asking him… what was it again? Ugh, he didn’t say! Before he could finish the sentence he had seen something behind Cecil and apologized as he ran past him and away! 

  There he is!

  He caught up to Carlos right in time to see Dana tackle a girl with blond hair that was running in front them to the grass. Nilanjana and Rochelle are quick to join him at Carlos’ side. Cecil just lets himself fall to his knees in the soft wet grass; he is wearing leather so the light moisture won’t be a problem. He pants, trying to even his breathing. 

“Carlos…, who is this?” he asks, breathless.

“What is she doing here?” Dave asks in turn, quickly catching up with everybody, Earl is right behind him.

 Carlos, still panting himself, approaches the girl, just as Dana releases her and he helps her stand up.

“Guys, girls, this is… this is my sister Carla” he introduces her, and she smiles like a cat that caught the canary and waves. “I need to talk with her, okay? It should be a minute…” the girl’s smile disappears and, even in the yellow warm glow of the lights they can see her grow a little pale as Carlos gently grabs her arm and leads her away. They don’t go far, just a few feet away, but the conversation is held in Spanish, so Cecil doesn’t understand what is begin said. He starts picking blades of grass, just to have something to do with his hands. He faintly hears Dave, who he knows speak a bit of the language, murmur to the others that the siblings’ conversation sounds more like an argument.

“How did you girls get here so fast?” he hears Earl ask their female friends, and Cecil lifts his head from the ground, that’s actually a very good question. “We barely saw Cecil and Carlos from the door when you girls just came out of nowhere”

“We were checking out the winter house over there” Nilanjana quickly explains, pointing at the building, that it’s hiding among the darkness, barely visible against the lights. “Then we saw Carlos chasing that gi-…, _chasing his sister”_ she corrects herself, “and then Dana took care of the rest”.

“That’s the tackle I taught you” Earl states, before smiling softly at her, who beams in response.

  Stan and Louisa approach the group, a frown on her face and a confused expression on his as they look at Carlos arguing in Spanish with Carla. Mark is still nowhere to be seen. The situation is quickly explained to the newly-arrived couple and it’s more than clear to everyone that the party is over, at least for them. 

  Carlos comes back.

“Hey, sorry, everyone” he is addressing everyone, yes, but his eyes are on Cecil, “I have to call my dad so he can pick us up”.

  The group sort of disperses around; Carlos had encouraged everyone else to keep having fun even though he has to leave. Dave and Cecil are waiting with him at the front door. Carla is just sitting on the steps, clearly pissed to have her night ruined by her brother. Carlos isn’t less angry, he was just about to ask Cecil! But no! His sister had to appear and ruin it! 

  She wasn’t even supposed to be there, she was supposed to be at a sleepover in her friend’s house… wait, she was supposed to be in Bella’s house, did she lied about that? When they argued a few minutes before she was clearly elusive when it came to answering who brought her to the party or who she was with, so there wasn’t much he told Carlos about and he didn’t pressure her, but only because he knew Carla could be as cold and calculating as a business man, she was most likely open up when she realized needed an ‘ally’ later when confronting their parents.

“Does Bella know you’re using her as an excuse?” he asks, crossing his arms.  

 Heck, he is starting to wonder if Bella even exists. He has heard his sister _mention_ her before, but he has never _seen_ her.

“Yeah” Carla answers. “She was even here with me before you saw me, but she chickened out and went to our friend Rose’s house. Rose told me that I could go too and in the morning we would just move to Bella’s because they’re neighbors. Then I realized parties aren’t as fun when you’re on your own, so I was trying to hitch a ride with one of those cute high-schoolers you saw me with”. 

  All right, if Carlos was mad before, now he was _enraged._

“You know that’s how most of Dad’s _missing girl_ cases started, right?” he spats trying to keep his temper in check. Mauricio and Rosa Marron have an interesting parenting method when it comes to teaching their kids about the dangers of modern society, in their father case it was sitting them down and having serious talks like what happens to girls that leave parties with guys they don’t know or if they are wandering around at night, mostly using his own cases from his early cop years as an example. Carlos had to sit through a couple of those too, because hate crimes are a thing and his father had, sadly, seen enough of them. “I thought you were smarter than this, Carla”, he says.

She frowns.

“Are you mad at me?” she scoffs.

“No, Carla, I’m just disappointed”, Dave, who was silently sitting next to him until now, breaks the silence and laughs. _“Dave”_ he warns him, side-eyeing him. 

“Sorry…” he apologizes half-heartedly. 

“Hey” Carla calls him, “Carlos didn’t let me ask you last time you were on our house, but do you have a girlfriend?”

“Carla!” Carlos chides her as Cecil laughs.

  Dave had indeed visited their house a couple times, be it so he and Carlos could head together to see the others, to work on some school or club related project or just to hang out. He had even mentioned one of his sisters seems to have a crush on him, but didn’t specify which one. Is it weird that he is kind of relieved that it is not the twelve year old one? However, how he should respond? Carla is fourteen, _almost fifteen,_ for what Carlos had told him, should he laugh it off? Should he mockingly tell her he is taken? 

“I’m gay” he blurts out.

  Both Cecil and Carlos turn to look at him. The Venezuelan boy cocks an eyebrow and opens his mouth to speak, but the purple-eyed boy does it first.

“I thought you liked girls as we-” he is interrupted when Dave, who is sitting next to him, slaps his knee hard, he flinches.

“What are you talking about, silly?” he asks playfully, “my boyfriend is right over _there!”_ he points towards the side of the house, a few feet away from them, where Earl and Dana are just rounding the corner. He gets up and runs towards Earl and, circling his arms around his neck, leans in to whisper into his ear. _“Pretend you’re my boyfriend!”_ he hisses, for only the two or them to hear, hoping he would play along, like before. He knows it’s _so_ selfish, especially after the moment they shared in the balcony, but it’s too late to retract himself from his words now.

  Dave knows Earl is on his full right to push him away and call him on his bullshit and he is okay with it. But he doesn’t, instead, the Boy Scout’s arms find their way around his waist and pull him closer. Is it weird that his heart is racing because of it? Or that his cheeks are heating up and are probably red? He hides his face in the crook of the redhead’s neck just in case as his arms leave his neck and wrap themselves around his torso.

“Here you are, baby, I was looking for you” he says sweetly and Dave feels relieved by the fact his lie is safe for now, also a bit jumpy by how warm in the chest those words make him feel.

“I thought we were looking for Cecil” Dana claims.

 _“You_ were looking for Cecil” he corrects, rolling his eyes for effect. 

  Dave feels like he’s the worst friend in the word, guilt and shame twisting around in his stomach, making him feel like when you eat something you shouldn’t have and it makes you feel ill, like you’re going to throw up. Technically speaking, Earl didn’t _say_ he is in love with him or that he even likes him that way, just holding hands doesn’t have to mean anything, even if after the fact he called him cute. He hugs Earl a little tighter, and if he notices, well, his face doesn’t show it.

  He hears absentmindedly how Dana tells Cecil that her brother is coming to pick them up because the reunion with his friends ended up early, and how she asks Earl if he is coming with them.

“Not tonight, doll” he answers, shaking his head ‘no’, “but, uh, I will drop by tomorrow morning, okay?”

“Suit yourself” she shrugs, “just be aware that we’re gonna have ice cream and brownies and then proceed to have an existential crisis _without you”_ she adds mockingly.

“Agreed” Cecil confirms, “nothing like an existential crisis to wrap up a night, am I right?” 

  Rochelle and Nilanjana join the group once again, apparently Mark left with some girl he met and Stan and Louisa had already left in his car as well, they will leave too when Nilanjana’s dad arrives, since they’re spending the night at her house. They eye Dave, making him realize he still has his arms around Earl so he let go of him and takes a step back. His cheeks are burning as they sit and wait. 

  Earl doesn’t seem affected, even keeping their charade by sitting next to him and draping an arm around his shoulders. 

  It’s… it’s actually kind of nice, because the breeze is _really_ cold now and he didn’t brought a jacket, begin so close to Earl and his warm body is really helping with that. Cecil, on the other hand, is rubbing his arms up and down, because his short sleeves are not enough against the cold breeze of the nighttime. Carlos sees this and unties the flannel around his waist, before giving to Cecil, who accepts it gladly.

  Two cars pull up in the entrance. One is Carlos’ dad and the other is Dana’s brother. The four of them bid their goodbyes and leave. Of course, not before Carla calls out a _‘you guys_ _make such a_ _cute_ _couple!’_ at him before she leaves behind her brother, who is practically dragging her away by now. Dave squirms uncomfortably. 

“Bye, guys, see you tomorrow!” Earl calls to Cecil and Dana as they leave, ignoring Carla, then looks down at him. “You wanna go get another drink?” he nods.

  Rochelle winks at them and tells him to have fun, while Nilanjana just smiles and waves as they enter the house together, hand-in-hand. Earl is smiling the whole time, while Dave just winces, he is a fucking idiot. They go grab a can each, Earl grabs another coke and he wants to grab a beer, even if he had already had one, because now he needs another. Because he is a moron without respect of how the redhead feels and that is chewing away his insides. Sadly, there are only sodas left. He grabs a cherry flavored one. 

  They’re back at the balcony.

“Are you going back home soon?” the Boy Scout asks.

“Uh… don’t know” he answers lamely, taking a sip of his can. He hadn’t really thought about it. His mother had told him he can call her at the end of the party and she would pick him up, but it’s nowhere near five am (hour in which the party was supposed to end) and his mother has to do extra hours on Sunday, so he doesn’t want to wake her up. “I guess I will walk…” he thinks out loud, shrugging. Earl frowns.

“All the way back to your house?” he asks and Dave nods. “Dude, that will take you _hours”_ he complains. “Tell you what; I’ve my bike parked outside. I will take you home”. 

“You can drop the _boyfriend_ _act,_ Harlan” Dave chides. “Carla just left, didn’t you see? I will be fine” his words are bit harsher than what he intends them to be as his turn his face to the side, not wanting to see Earl’s worried gaze.

  A hand covers his, just like before.

“I’m not acting, Dave. I’m worried about you” he admits. “It’s cold and it’s a long way from here, if anything, I’m acting like a _friend,_ okay? Let me take you home”.

  Earl is too sweet, that’s all he can think, barely minutes later, when, their drinks done, they head out of the party, because he had looked at him with such intensity that he couldn’t find it in himself to say _‘no’_ to his request. He spots Nilanjana and Rochelle walking towards a car, it’s most likely his friend’s dad’s car. Rochelle waves at him before getting in, and, sadly, he knows exactly what she must be thinking. Oh god, she is going to be _nightmares_ on Monday, isn’t she? 

  The ride to his place is quiet, not that you can hold a proper conversation while riding a motorcycle, luckily is a quick one as well, they just shyly voice their goodbyes at Dave’s doorstep, then the Boy Scout drives off. He tries to ignore how hopeful the redhead looked before he left him, was he… expecting a kiss or _something?_ He quickly discards the thought as he fishes the key from a nearby flowerpot that hangs next to the front door, Earl is too much of a gentleman for that.

Dave is already inside when Carlos calls him. He quietly slips off his shoes next to the door as he answers. He walks towards the kitchen for a glass of water, who knew cherry soda could make you so thirsty?

 _“Hi, Dave,_ _it’_ _s Carlos_ ” he smiles at the shy greeting from the other side of the line, his friend always starts conversations through the phone like that, _“can_ _you_ _talk?”_ he inquires.

“Yeah, babe, how did it go? Could you ask him?” he takes a sip of his glass. 

_“…no”._

“Oh, I see…” he answers, wincing, no wonder the guy was mad at his sister, “cheer up! You can try again, it’s not the end of the world” he comforts him, before drinking more of his glass and then he dumps the rest of his glass in the sink and leaves it there, however, he thinks better due to all the times his mother had scolded him for not washing what he uses and he gives it a half-hearted rinse as Carlos keeps talking, his phone is tucked between his shoulder and ear. 

Also, does Carlos tone seem a little bit… off? Or is he imagining it?

 _“He… he probably doesn’t even wants to talk to me. I ran away from him, Dave, while we were da-dancing…”_ the blue eyed boy frowns, letting the glass down over the counter for it to dry, no, something is definitely wrong. _“I- I- mean… I didn’t think at the moment, I just saw my sister with those guys I didn’t know and they looked drunk…”_ he dries his hand with a kitchen rag, while noticing he forgot to take his rings off, fuck. He grabs the phone again.

“Dude, it’s not your fault. I don’t have siblings, so I can’t relate, but what you did was take your sister out off a situation you thought was dangerous, and there’s nothing wrong with it, especially after hearing her say she was planning to leave with one of those guys” he goes to his bedroom, across the hallway from his mother’s, but he quickly checks on her from the crack in her door, before entering to his own. She is still sleeping.

 _“I don’t regret taking her_ _home, I just think I could_ _have handed_ the _thing with Cecil differently”_ Carlos rephrases.

“What’s done it’s done, buddy” he answers, lowering his voice a bit and shrugging, even if Carlos can’t see him. He tucks the phone between his shoulder and ear again as he starts pulling out his rings. “Your voice sounds weird, are you okay? You aren’t crying about this, are you?” he quickly adds, pausing in his movements. “Dude, do you want me to come over or something?”

  Carlos laughs shyly from the other side of the line and Dave smiles.

 _“…no. I smacked myself in the face with the closet door…”_ Dave laughs out loud, trying to shush himself when he realizes he could wake up his mother. _“I was really mad at my sister for what she had done, and when I came to my room I opened the closet door with more force than necessary. Hurts a bit but I will be fine. Can you believe that she asked, in front of our parents, who the boy I was with was?”_

“Holy shit, she didn’t!” he laughs, grabbing his phone again, this time to wrestle his necklace off, it’s a bit complex since it is very long and it is twirled twice around his neck, he really should have used a choker instead. 

_“She did! So I kind of got defensive and asked who those college freshman were… then, I felt guilty and told my Papa that I wasn’t sure if they were college students, just that I don’t know them from school”._

“Dude, everybody there was from school, but I saw a couple guys with the yellow jackets of the Desert Bluffs’ Sunbeams, you know, the rival team from our Spiderwolves?” Carlos laughs and whispers a quiet no way. “Yeah, nobody from our school will wear that, she was flirting with the enemy!” they both laugh.

 _“Uh, Dave?”_ he calls after a couple moments of silence. _“Thanks for begin considerate of my sister’s feelings tonight, you really went out of your way and you didn’t have to. Thanks”._

“No problem, bro” he smiles softly. He did what, at the moment, thought was right. However, he was regretting that decision. In an attempt to salvage Carla’s feelings he probably hurt Earl’s, and, even then, the redhead was a complete sweetheart, not only had he played along, but insisted in taking him home, despite him trying to push him away. He really owes Earl one.

“Dave, honey?” he hears coming from his mother’s room.

“Gotta go, buddy, but, uh, come over tomorrow?”

_“Yeah, can do. See you tomorrow”_

“Great, see ya!” he hangs up quickly and goes out into the hallway, to let his mother know he is home.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song mentioned in this chapter is "Careless Whisper" by the 80's band Wham!


	7. Awkward moments and personal phone calls.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The morning after the party. Some feelings are expressed and conversations are pursued.

Dana woke up sometime around eight a.m. and the first thing she realized was her bedmate had snatched away the blanket. She and Cecil had passed out around three a.m., not much long after they arrived at the Cardinal household. Her mother was working the graveyard shift again, sadly. Her brother had gone straight to his room to sleep the moment they got here.

  Soft footsteps echo in the hallway, she cocks an eyebrow when she doesn’t recognize them, but doesn’t pay attention as she retrieves part of the blanket and wraps herself in it like a Dana-burrito. She snuggles in the blankets and thinks falling sleep again would be fantastic…

  Her door opens.                       

“Good morning, sunshine” it’s all the warning she gets before someone draws back the curtains of one of the windows next to her, letting her bedroom be overtaken by the soft glow of the morning sun.

“Earl, what are you doing in my house?” she grunts, frowning as she sits up, still trying to get used to the sudden brightness of her room.

  The redhead merely smiles at her as he approaches to sit on the edge of the bed, it’s hard to believe how different could his friend look in the span of only a couple hours. This morning it’s almost like that guy from last night, that looked like a bad boy with his spiked leather jacket and messy red hair, was Earl’s evil twin brother or something, now that he sees him with his pristine uniform and carefully combed hair, he kept the shiny black boots, though.

“Your mom let me in. I brought some stuff for breakfast” she narrows her eyes. “Come on, Dee, I will make your favorite tea, what do you say?” that does it. She nods. Over the course of the last summer they discovered that Earl was one hell of a chef, he himself didn’t know he had it in him. And she is not going to pass up an opportunity to taste his excellent cooking.

“Help me wake Ceec up” she requests.

“I’m up, I’m up!” complains the boy in question, also sitting up as he rubs his eyes.

  Cecil glasses are askew and over his forehead; he is still wearing the red flannel Carlos lent him last night. He puts his glasses back in place as he blinks away his sleepiness. Dana assures him that the mirror of her in-suite bathroom is covered so he can change if he wants to. So, he grabs his backpack and heads there. Earl, on his part, hurries them as he goes down to prepare breakfast.

“Is for things like this that we say you’re the mom!” Dana taunts, with Cecil laughing all the way from the bathroom.

  That’s kind of their inside joke. When Dana started in her current school, she was scared, because all of her friends weren’t there. What if she didn’t fit in? Were other students going to look down on her because she was younger than them? Were they going to expect a lot from her? Would they even like her? But then she met Cecil and Earl who just kind of hang out by themselves and those were problems she couldn’t relate to anymore.

  She feels… safe with them, they don’t expect the world of her; they listen to whatever she has to say and treat her as an equal. Her opinion is important to them. And also they adore her.

  Every time someone asks how they met, Cecil says they just adopted her, because they also tend to baby her a bit, but it is not in a way that makes her feel they’re treating her differently due to her age, even if that _is_ indeed the cause, because she feels she can take care of them too, as well. The first time she heard that answer her own answer to it was something like _‘What are you? My parents?’_. Instantly after, Cecil declared that they were her back-up parents and that he was the dad, making Earl the mom (which is also because the freckled boy is the responsible one). The redhead didn’t like that very much…

  Dana smiles at the memory, while looking through her wardrobe to find something to wear. She picks a white short sleeved t-shirt and a pink overall with a pair of pink sneakers. She throws all in the bed and proceeds to fix her hair as she waits for Cecil to finish. It doesn’t take much time until his friend is out of the bathroom, dressed in a long sleeved black and white crop top, ripped jeans and black fishnets. She smiles as she passes past him towards the bathroom, clothes in her hand.

  When she gets to the kitchen, what awaits her is a cup of warm vanilla tea and some pastries from the only bakery in Night Vale, that goes by the unoriginal name of _Desserts in the Desert_ , seriously, they could do better. She should be disappointed about finding out Earl didn’t cook, but that bakery had the best pastries in town, so she sits next to Cecil who is already drinking eagerly from a cup of coffee. Poor thing, he is not himself without his morning dose of caffeine, which isn’t very healthy, is it now?

 She grabs a pastry, which seriously are the _best_ , just as Earl sits with a cup of tea of his own. She doesn’t comment on it, but he’s drinking Earl Grey tea, which is seriously hilarious to her. They’re in silence at first, enjoying their meal together, when Cecil speaks. Yeah, he can hardly be quiet for long periods of time, especially after he finally has his coffee.

“Hey, Earl? We really missed you last night”

“Uh, really?” he asks with a smile. “I missed you too. What was last night’s existential crisis about?”

“Relationships, and the conclusion was that if you don’t love your boyfriend or girlfriend but you like spending time with them, you only have a friends with benefits!” Dana concludes as her friend laughs and shakes his head. “Anyways, how was your night? Did you stay much longer?”

“Oh, I left the party with Dave a bit after you guys left, wasn’t fun without you…”

“ _What”_ Cecil chokes out, with half a mouthful of pastry in his mouth and in a tone that didn’t make the word sound like a question.

“What? Did I stutter?” the redhead complains, before sipping from his tea mug again.

“Hold up, hold up!” Dana calls. “Say it again, but _slower_ ”.

  He cocks an eyebrow, but does as he was told, setting his cup down and taking a deep breath to keep his patience in check.

“ _I left the party with Dave a bit after you guys left, wasn’t fun without you…_ ” he repeats, then realization dawns on his face and Dana has to stifle a laugh when his face goes bright red. “Not like _that_! I just took him home!”

“Just that? No goodnight kiss? No nothing?” he shakes his head ‘no’ and Cecil scoffs. “Earl Harlan, I taught you better than that”.

“Oh, my God, Cecil” he complains, before covering his face with his hands, embarrassed.

“You like him, don’t you, Earl?” Dana asks a knowing smile in her lips as she pokes her friend’s arm.

  He sighs dramatically. He loves them, he really does, and it’s not that he doesn’t trusts them either, seriously he trusts them with his life, but… he is not sure about telling them yet about Dave, not after last night’s fiasco. Especially not after what happened when things didn’t worked out with his last girlfriend and his friends decided to take the matters into their own hands. Yeah, that stuff it’s _so_ _not_ happening again.

“…yeah”, he concedes, no use in denying it, making Dana squeal as Cecil smiles at him. He is not going to say anything else, though.

“Hey, maybe I can-…!”

“Thanks but no” he interrupts, smiling as well. “I will handle it, okay?”

 He can’t rely on Cecil forever to get him dates; he has to do this himself, he is eighteen, after all. Coming to think of it… Dave looked really uneasy last night. Maybe he said or did something wrong? He should text him or something, would that be weird? God, should he wait until Monday at least? Yeah, sounds rational.

“You’re not allowed to get Earl anymore dates until _you_ grow a pair and ask Carlos out, Cecil Gershwin Palmer!” Dana chides.

  Cecil opens his mouth to answer with a frown on his face, but his phone rings before he can do so.

“Hello?” he answers. His eyes immediately go wide, making Earl cock an eyebrow and exchange a glance with Dana. “He-Hello, Carlos!” he swallows and licks his lips nervously. “I’m fine, I’m at Dana’s with her and Earl, and you?” silence as Cecil listens. “Oh, you’re with Dave? Say hi to him for us, would you?” he adds with a playful tone, winking at his redheaded friend, who just frowns in his direction. “Nah, we’re not busy, did you need anything, Dear Carlos?” there it is, he always babbles whenever a conversation with his beloved Venezuelan boy starts, but once he is comfortable he can talk to him like a normal person with a normal pulse whose palms aren’t sweating. Neat.

“ _Put it on speaker! Speaker, speaker!”_ Dana begs, half-mouthing, half-hissing the words.

  Cecil moves his hand in her direction as if bating away a fastidious insect and motions for her to shush by pressing his index finger to his lips. Earl just smiles at that. The purple eyed boy pauses.

 “You’re calling for personal reasons?” he repeats in disbelief.

  Meanwhile, from the other side of the line, the Venezuelan boy is on his friend’s bedroom, but feels ready to go and throw himself out of Radon Canyon despite how his parents had forbade him from going anywhere near there. _Personal reasons?_ Is _that_ the best he can come up with? Dave had excused himself after he uttered those terrible, terrible words, ‘to go get a snack’ he said, but Carlos could hear him laughing in the hallway. What a friend he has, huh.

“Yeah, for personal reasons…” saying it again it’s only making it worse, better not repeat it anymore. “A-are you free next Sa-Saturday?” he inquires, barely registering that Dave is back, sitting next to him on the floor with a bag of chips. He gives him thumbs up, before opening the bag and digging in. He tries to concentrate in the noise from the other end, instead on the noise his friend is making as he chews on those damn snacks. He glares at him, Dave seems to notice because he is suddenly chewing more quietly.

 _“This Saturday?”_ comes the honey-like voice from the other side of the phone. “ _Um, wait a sec”_ his next words sounds a bit away from the phone. _“Dana, do you know if…?”_ muffled response from her and the tone is back to normal. _“Yeah, I don’t have to go to the station that day”_.

He takes a deep breath.

“Do you want to go out?”

 _“Go out?”_ Cecil repeats. _“Like… like a date?”_

“Yes”, silence on the other side. “Cecil?” more silence. “Cecil, are you there?”

“ _NEAT!”_ Cecil lets out so loud that he has to pull the phone away from his ear. Dave laughs next to him and he can faintly hear that he is not the only one. “ _Uhh… I mean! That… that sounds nice, yeah, what… what do you want to do?_ ”

“Um, dinner?” he says lamely, realizing he wasn’t really expecting to get this far. He sees Dave licking his fingertips, then leaving the bag next to him and quickly scrambling over to the desk, fetching a notebook. He writes something and shows it to Carlos just as Cecil asks him _where_ he wants to go. “There’s a new place that opened downtown…” he narrows his eyes, trying to read his friend’s handwriting. “Gino’s…?”

 _“Oh! That fancy place? Carlos, I would love to!”_ it’s the enthusiast response he gets.

“Great, see you tomorrow at school?”

_“Yes, definitely!”_

 They hang up. Carlos sighs happily and looks up at Dave, still standing there with the notebook in his hands, but he is smiling down at him.

“I got a date!” he announces, smiling so wide it hurts.

“You got a date, indeed, buddy” his friend nods proudly.

Later that day, as Earl walks towards the front door of his house and away from his motorcycle, having passed without problems the weekly surprise inspection of the Boy Scouts, his phone vibrates in his pocket. It is a text from Dave. He swallows as he opens the message. It’s actually quite simple. Just a…

_Hey ;)_

_ Hey, how you doing? _

Earl enters the house, waiting for an answer. His mothers aren’t home; he figures they are running errands or something as he enters his bedroom. He falls into his neatly made bed, looking around at his military themed bedroom. He had always wanted to join the army, but the closest thing in Night Vale was the Boy Scouts, which, same difference.

  His eyes close as he thinks about taking a nap, he didn’t sleep much the night before, but still woke up early (granted that it was a bit later than when he is used to) to go see Dana and Cecil. Yeah, he probably has time before dinner to sleep a bit and his mothers probably won’t mind, but the phone vibrates again, chasing away any sleepiness he may have.

_I’m fine, hung out with Carlos today, but you already know that, don’t you? ;)_

_ Yeah, hey, listen, I wanted to say I’m sorry if I seemed pushy last night. _

Better get that off his chest now.

_Freckles, you were a sweetheart, don’t apologize to me. I feel like I should be the one that apologizes to you, I’m sorry I pushed you away._

He types an answer, then he erases it and tries again. And again, until he just types two words and sends them.

_ It’s okay… _

Yeah, that’s good.

Realizing he had a crush on the blue eyed boy had proven to be troublesome. The history of his love life isn’t the most extensive, so he doesn’t have much material to work with. Also, at the beginning of the year, he is pretty sure he was developing a crush on Cecil of all people, just a bit before Dave came to the town and he ended up paying more attention to the new boy than to the _is-this-a-crush-or-just-brotherly-love_ feelings he seemed to have around his best friend. It’s not the first time he is in love (that spot sadly belongs to Melony), but it is the first time he is in love with a boy.

_No, it’s not. I don’t think I even thanked you for bringing me home. So, thanks._

_ I know what you’re doing, you can stop. _

_What am I doing?_

_ You’re just begin sweet with me because you know I like you. It’s fine, really, you don’t have to, I know you don’t like me. _

_I do like you, Boy Scout._

 He sits up quickly; his heart starts to beat hard against his ribcage and he is pretty sure that if he doesn’t get it under control it is going to burst out of his chest. _WHAT?_ Dave likes him back? He takes a deep breath; he probably means he likes him like a friend, nothing else. He shouldn’t get his hopes up just yet…, if ever, now that he thinks about it.

_ But not in the same way I like you… _

_I don’t know, maybe? You’re really cute and I like spending time with you a lot._

_“What… what the_ _fuck?_ ” Earl mutters slowly and quietly to himself, staring at the screen in disbelief, he never curses, he learned it was something that it is really frowned upon if you’re a member of the Boy Scouts, but he seriously can’t believe what he just read. Well, he isn’t sure, so maybe he’s begin considerate, maybe he doesn’t want to hurt him, they have the same friend circle and romantic drama is surely going to make things awkward for everybody. But what if he does like him back?

_ What? _

_Yeah, you’re really cute. Especially when you’re playing the boyfriend role ;)_

He doesn’t know what to answer to that, but he doesn’t have to. Dave quickly adds something along the lines of a short farewell and a promise to talk a bit more on Monday, leaving him alone in his bedroom with his thoughts once again.

  Monday happens. Dave and Carlos are sitting together on the empty classroom to wait for the first class to start, reading over a comic book. Rochelle approaches and greets them, the knowing smile on her face lets the blue eyed boy know he is about to be in a super uncomfortable position, but his best friend comes, unexpectedly, to the rescue.

“Rochelle” he calls, his eyes shining proudly. “I’ve a date!”

“Really, baby?! Tell me everything!” she answers eagerly. “Is it with who I think it is? Did you ask him or the other way round? When? Where? What are you going to wear?” she quickly adds in rapid succession.

The dark-skinned girl’s attention instantly turns to him and Dave mouths the words ‘Thank you’ to Carlos as he patiently answers their friend’s question, knowing how he doesn’t really like to talk about himself that much, he is beyond grateful. He knows about the thing with Earl on Saturday too, Dave told him. He needs to think about that a bit more, before anything, what is he even supposed to tell his Boy Scout? He already said enough, but never got to see Earl’s answer. He wonders what could it be… Ugh, he shouldn’t have chickened out at the last second. Fuck.

  Lunch is going to be awkward for everybody. Or so Rochelle suggests as they walk towards the cafeteria, Earl, Dave Carlos and Cecil should already be there by now. Louisa and Stan, sensing how the overall situation is going to be, leave to have lunch outside. Nilanjana calls him cowards while Mark laughs, before commenting that he wasn’t aware there was a ‘thing’ between Earl and Dave.

“There isn’t” Dana comments.

“They _did_ leave the party together” Rochelle insists. “Right, Nils?”

“I didn’t see them” she shrugs.

“Yeah, they did, but nothing happened” Dana corrects. “Earl came by my house on Sunday morning and I interrogated him, swears nothing happened”.

  They enter the cafeteria, where the four missing boys are already seating at what has become their usual table. Cecil, the most talkative person in their group, is silent. Usually that would be a relief, like they tend to joke about, but it’s actually very unnerving. Carlos, Dave and Earl are equally silent. However, the Venezuelan boy and Cecil are exchanging shy glances across the table every now and then.

  The situation improves over the week and everything seems to be going back to normal (normal in Night Vale, that’s it), for the most part at least. Dave notices that Earl is avoiding him. He doesn’t know why, but it’s starting to bother him. He has already tried to catch up with him, but he is always gone before he can find him.

  School ends up early, due to a municipally-scheduled earthquake. He tells Carlos to go ahead and that he would try and catch Earl before he leaves again, he also adds that he is going to call him tomorrow for his date with Cecil. They say goodbye to each other.

  Dave knows where he has to go: the second classroom on the second floor, it is directly above the laboratory the Science Club hangs out and it is known to be one of the places where the oldest members of the Boy Scout troop hold meetings. If Earl is hiding somewhere, it has to be there.

  As he climbs the last flight of stairs, he wonders if he should either knock on the classroom’s door or just walk in. He doesn’t get to decide, given that there are a couple of boys his age in uniforms hanging out in the hallway, but they all stop talking at once and turn to look at him. He freezes, but refuses to feel intimidated by them, they’re nothing compared to the bullies he faced back in California. Also, they’re _Boy Scouts_ ; every one of them is clearly as much of a nerd as he is. He clears his throat.

“Um, hi, I’m looking for Earl, have you guys seen him?”

“Who asks?” says one of the boys, stepping in front. The name tag on his uniform says _Williams_. He knows him, they go to the same class, but he can’t remember his name, he always sucked at names.

“Man, what are you, his girlfriend?” he complains instead. “Also, I’ve been living here for, what? Eight months already? Given how you people greet _interlopers_ and how small this town is, I’m pretty sure you know my name”, he concludes, crossing his arms.

 The boy looks surprised at his outburst. Then he smiles.

“Well, you got me there, Dave Cruz!” he admits. “Captain Harlan is not here, we haven’t seen him, but try asking Palmer, he probably knows”.

“Thank you, Teddy” he says, suddenly remembering the boy’s name.

  Then he leaves. He has already asked Cecil, that’s why he went there in the first place, but doesn’t say it. Honestly, fuck it. He doesn’t need this crap, he doesn’t need to talk to Earl and he is not going to force him if the redhead doesn’t want to.

  Defeated, he starts heading home.


	8. Wastelands and first dates

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shyness on a first date. Awkward giggles. A conversation long delayed finally has the chance to happen.

 Carlos has always felt he was one of the lucky ones whenever his family is concerned. They’ve always been supportive of him, no matter the circumstances, so it isn’t strange that, when the words he chooses to shyly utter at dinner ( _“So… I have a date this Saturday”)_ leave his mouth, his father congratulates him with a pat on the back, his sisters squeal excitedly and his mother asks him if the boy in question is a cute one. Fabian asks what having a date means.

“It means Carlos has a boyfriend now!” Carolina says.

“No! He is not my boyfriend!” he tries to correct, embarrassed. “It’s just a date!”

“Oh, does your date have a name?” Carla teases.

  He just glares at her. Carla came around to her senses a couple days ago, even apologizing to Carlos for ruining his night and recognizing _she_ was in the wrong about the whole situation, the conversation was followed by an exchange of hugs and verbal expressions of affection. He is just glad she realized her mistake, even if it didn’t take away her grounded status, which she now is taking like a champ. He is very proud of her.

“Is that guy from the party?” she insists.

  Everybody is looking at him and he shrinks in his seat. Not only had Carlos seen his sister with those guys he didn’t know, but Carla had seen him dancing with Cecil, and then witnessed when he lent him his flannel, of course she only knows him as ‘the guy from the party’; and of course it’s him he has a date with, he doesn’t have eyes for anybody else! He is not saying that last part out loud, though.  

“Quit harassing your brother and pick up the table!” their mother commands her, gently but firmly.

  Part of Carla’s punishment includes doing housework. It gives her something to do, since she is not allowed to go out if it isn’t to go to school or to run errands, her cellphone and laptop are under custody, like their father likes to say (he still uses cop jargon even though he is not in the forces anymore). She sighs but complies.

 He excuses himself from the table and goes to finish his homework on his bedroom, better have the day completely free tomorrow. And, just as he is finishing the last equation for his math class, his father enters the room. They look at each other for a few seconds before Mauricio closes the door behind him and sits on Carlos’ bed.

“So, your mother wanted _me_ to have a talk with you since you’ve your first date tomorrow…” he explains, wincing.

“Oh…” he lets out, he can already feel his cheeks heating up. “Papa, I don’t think…”

“Yeah, I signed the permission to let you learn about the birds and the bees on school, so we’re going to skip that part”, he continues, ignoring Carlos, “and if you didn’t learn it, then look it up on a book, you’re smart enough”.

 Carlos covers his face with his hands, groaning embarrassed; his father cocks an eyebrow at his expression.

“Papa, is this _really_ necessary?” he insists, since he doesn’t really want to remind his dad that most of what he learned in school doesn’t exactly apply to him.

“Don’t be like that with me, I don’t like this any more than you do, but your mother insisted and I’m not going to sleep on the couch tonight, no sir”, he brings his hands together as if praying, “now, let me tell you about a little thing called _consent…_ ”

“Papa, I know what consent is! I don’t have to be pushy and all that, I know, I know!” he insists, embarrassed beyond belief now, consent is something he is very familiar with; begin someone who is as touch-averse as he is. He knows he doesn’t have to worry about things like that around Cecil, they know each other’s boundaries.

“That’s just the beginning, Carlos. Now shut up and let me talk so we can finish this sooner and forget this conversation ever happened” he says, making his son nod once as he crosses his arms, still looking uncomfortable. “Great. What you said is true, yes, you don’t have to be pushy, but, more than that, you have to be respectful of the other person’s space! And, at the same time, that person has to respect _your_ space, even if this boy is more… um… _experienced_ than you, it’s your first date so you don’t have to feel pressured to do things you don’t want to…!

  Carlos bites his lips as his father keeps on talking, can this get any more embarrassing? Ugh, better not think about that or it may actually become true…

  The next day, Carlos wakes up around midday. Today it’s the day, he realizes, before groaning softly and hiding himself under his blankets. Oh my god… _today_ it’s the day. He doesn’t have to see Cecil until six p.m. for their date, so now he has several hours to waste before then. And there’s no homework to keep him occupied, what was he thinking? Having the whole day free of responsibilities is going to actually be stressful. He considers his options as he reaches for his cellphone that’s charging on the nightstand. He almost on cue gets a text from Dave.

_Today’s the day, buddy! Are you ready, Casanova?_

_ I’m not even up yet and I’m already nervous… _

_Aww, you really have it bad, don’t you?_

_ Maybe…? I really like him, Dave. Anyways, could you catch Earl yesterday? _

_Nah, I gave up, if he doesn’t want to talk with me, then that’s his problem, not mine._

_ You two would make a really cute couple, though. _

_Pfft, what? Me and the Boy Scout? We’re just friends, dude._

_Just friends…_ Dave mentally repeats. That thought shouldn’t be making him sad, dammit. He gets up from his bed and makes his way towards the kitchen, his mother isn’t up yet, so he figures he could do something nice and prepare her some breakfast… or lunch, given the time. So, half an hour later, his mother wakes up with the smell of food lingering in the air. She works for that new Night Vale’s company as an accountant, funnily enough; she works with most of his friends’ parents, since all of them have at least one parent working there. His mom works in the same department that Nilanjana’s father, who is also an accountant, does. Today is her day off, luckily. She smiles at him when she enters, still in her pajamas.

“Well, well, what did you do that you’re cooking for me?” she asks playfully.

“Can’t I treat my own mother to lunch? I mean, I’m a broke high-schooler so you have to conform with homemade, but still…” he replies making her laugh as he places a plate of spaghetti in front of her, they share a common love for Italian food and Dave learnt to make it at a young age. Every time he has to make himself food, Italian is his go-to. He is sure there’s even a part of his family tree that has connections with Italy that must be the only part of his heritage from his mother’s side that he takes pride as being his own.

  They sit and eat in comfortable silence; Dave can proudly say he has a good relationship with his mother. Sadly, the circumstances that lead to their closeness aren’t all happy. His eyes drift towards the house’s fireplace (why a house in the desert has such a feature is beyond him), where a framed photo rests next to a medal, a purple heart. The man in the photo is Alvaro Cruz, Dave’s father, who served in the military as an US marine. He was killed by an explosive that went off near him while he was deployed in Afghanistan, back when Dave was in middle school. His grandparents from his mother side weren’t the most helpful when it came to that situation.

“Are you going out tonight, Dave?” his mother asks as she sips from her glass, snapping him back to attention.

“Um, no, I don’t think so?” he answers truthfully. “I’m on duty tonight, Mom, my best friend has a date and I have to be close to the phone in case he needs moral support”.

  She laughs as she starts picking up the table.

“Well, that’s very sweet, honey. You can tell Carlos that you two can come to have ice cream here if he is heartbroken” his mother knows all of his friends by name, like the cool mom she is. “I’ll go out tonight, so you boys will have the house to yourselves”.

“What? Where you going?” he frowns. “You don’t have a date, do you?” he inquires. He knows it has been years since his father passed, his mother has all the right to move on, but he is the one who isn’t ready quite yet.

“No, baby” she answers sweetly. “Just a dinner with my co-workers at that new Italian place that opened up last week. If your plans change let me know, okay? I’m still totally going to the dinner but I will be able to relax a bit more if I know where you’re, hm?”

“Yes, Mom” he replies obediently.

  Hours later, as Dave is lying face down on his bed and checking his social media, he can see that all of his friends seem to have plans for the night. Rochelle and Nilanjana posted a picture in what looks like the latter’s living room (he has gone to her house a couple times, so he knows what the living room looks like) with the hashtag _#GirlsNight_. Stan and Louisa posted a picture together in front of the Night Vale Movie Theatre, while Mark posted a selfie with his aunt with the hashtag _#MovieNight_. No sign of Dana or Cecil, though, which is strange, considering how active in social media the purple eyed boy is.

  No sign of Earl, either. That is starting to worry him, really, but, to be honest he is, in fact, more torn in between begin angry at him for all the avoidance and… and missing him? Damn, why lie about it? Yes, he fucking misses his Boy Scout a lot. Earl is really fun to be around and the only one who actually laughs at his stupid jokes (Carlos only laughs when he makes scientifically accurate ones).

  Was he too pushy, perhaps? He knows himself to be rather impatient, but he should have given Earl a bit more of space… but the redhead sucks at making decisions… ugh, but… but…

  Dave sighs as his face hits the bed.

  Yes, Earl does suck at making decisions, but that doesn’t give him the right to be a creep and pester him just because he doesn’t want to talk. He realizes that, given that trait of his it must have been really hard to confess his feelings. He didn’t say he likes him per se, but it was implicit in his words. It’s not like he doesn’t like him back, either, Dave had known since the party that he has sort of a crush on him as well. So, what is he afraid of, anyways? Rejection can’t be it, right? Is he afraid of compromise or what?

  He briefly considers asking his mother, who is changing in her room across the hallway. What the fuck is he going to say, though? All he can imagine is starting the conversation with a simple _‘So, Mom, I kind of have a boyfriend… but he is begin a dumbass right now, what do you think I should do…?’_ he laughs, what the fuck? Earl is his boyfriend now? Well, they could have something if Earl stopped avoiding him, they both like each other and like spending time together, so what the hell are they waiting for? _‘Mom, this is my boyfriend; Earl Harlan…’_ yeah, he totally can imagine himself saying that. He laughs again.

  Should he call him? Text him, maybe? He immediately decides against it, he harassed the poor thing enough already, he will talk when he is ready for it, Dave feels like he can wait.

  Wait…, how is Earl going to know that he wants to give him all the space he needs if they don’t talk? Will he be able to catch the hint? Or is he going to mistake it for indifference? Holy shit, he hasn’t thought of that. _‘Uhh… think, Dave, you’re a nerd, that’s what you do, you think!’_ An idea suddenly pops up in his head. He knows what to do. Quickly, he grabs his cellphone again and dials a number. Someone picks up after two rings.

 _“Good evening, you have reached Cecil Palmer’s phone, Mr. Palmer is unable to answer right now, may I take your message?”_ is the answer he gets.

“What the…? Cardinal, is that you?”

 _“Yep, you got me. Hi!”_ Dana giggles _. “Okay, now, Cecil can’t really answer, he is changing, so, how can I help you Mr. Cruz?”_ she continues with a professional tone.

“Um, I was wondering if you guys knew anything about Earl? He… um, he has been kind of avoiding me and I was getting worried, I don’t know if he is angry with me or what, just…” he sighs. “If you see him, just let him know that I’m sorry and… and that I will give him all the time he needs… okay?”

“Will do, Dave! Good night” then she hangs up, before he can say goodbye as well.

* * *

 

Carlos wants to throw himself out of the window of his bedroom. He had been quietly doing his own thing, just getting changed from his date with Cecil, when both of his sisters came barging into his room, claiming they came to help him. That’s why now he’s just watching as Carla browses through his wardrobe and Carolina laughs at her.

“What is wrong with my outfit, Carla?” he complains, gesturing at the white dress shirt and the navy blue tie he was trying to tie just now.

“Is that the tie you used for Silvia’s _fiesta de quince_?” she answers, wrinkling her nose.

“…maybe…”

“Carlos, that tie is like ten years old!” she chides.

“For your information, this tie is only seven years old! I was ten for Silvia’s _fiesta de quince_ , not seven!” he argues back.

“Brother, I’m pretty, I don’t do math” she notes, rolling her eyes. “Anyways, first things first… where are you going?”

“Um, well we were going to go to Gino’s” he explains, hand scratching on the nape of his neck, Carolina sighs dreamily and Carla nods in agreement, hand on her hips, “…but I… kind of… couldn’t get a… reservation… We’re going to the Arby’s instead” he confesses, before biting his lips. Carolina lets out a disappointed _‘oh’_ and Carla smacks her forehead in annoyance.

“He must really like you…” Carla comments, shaking her head and making him notice that black roots are starting to show on her dyed blond hair. “Anyways, just dress like you always do if you’re going to the Arby’s, no need to dress up, he probably won’t either, come on, Caro, our job here is done”.

“ _Adiós_ , Carlos, _buena suerte_!” says Carolina as both of them leave the room.

 Carlos looks down at his clothes. Carla is right; Cecil is probably not going to dress up for this. He is lucky he didn’t call the whole thing off. He changes into a black t-shirt and a red flannel with blue ripped jeans and red converse. Yeah, that will do. As he is leaving, Fabian stops him in the hallway, with his hands behind his back. He has been playing in the Mission Grove Park Playground with some of his friends until around an hour ago, when their mother picked him up and brought him home.

“What, _enano_?” he asks playfully.

  Fabian smiles and extends one hand in his direction. He is holding a purple rose.

“I found this in the park! It looked pretty so I brought it home, it’s for your boyfriend!” he answers.

  Carlos smiles at his brother and ruffles his hair as he takes the rose; he is such a sweet little boy. He doesn’t even have the heart to explain to him that Cecil is not actually his boyfriend yet (he still has a bit of hope that he will be able to call him that sometime in the near future). He says goodbye to his parents, who gently remind him he has a curfew by midnight and wish him good luck on his date.

  A couple of blocks away from his home his phone rings and he freezes. He reaches into his jean pocket, his hand trembles when the unwanted thought of it begin Cecil calling to cancel their date strikes him, but he quickly lets out a sigh of relief. It’s Dave.

“Hello…?” he answers.

_“Hey, buddy, how is it going? Didn’t interrupt anything, did I?”_

“No, I’m on my way to see him… Gosh, this is going to sound ridiculous, but I’m _so_ nervous…” he confesses.

 _“It’s not ridiculous, babe, it’s normal… Um, also I wanted to tell you something_ ” he hears him take a deep breath. _“I’m going to do something that is… kind of stupid…? No, wait, not stupid… irresponsible, yeah, and I’m not sure, but I may need an alibi to tell my mom later”._

“Just don’t do anything dangerous” Carlos cautions him.

“Nothing like that” he promises. “I will try to stay in touch, so, if you need me just… just call me, okay? I promise I will explain what the fuck am I doing later” Dave swears before they exchange their goodbyes.

  That’s certainly curious, he wonders what could Dave be doing, but he has a date to attend.  He walks to Cecil’s place that is a few blocks away. He is still holding the rose as he rings the doorbell, silently hoping that Abby would be the one to open the door. He doesn’t have such luck.

  The one who opens the door is Cal.

  Carlos hasn’t met him before tonight. He is pretty similar to Cecil, maybe taller and a bit more beefy, but with the same purple eyes, same black and white hair (though, Cal’s is styled more like a small Mohawk), even same purple markings, which he doesn’t seem to have in his arms like Cecil does, but on his neck and probably his chest too instead. He does have some actual tattoos on his arms, though. He doesn’t know much about the guy, only what he has heard from Cecil and mostly of it is that Cal is okay most of the time, he just acts like an asshole sometimes.

“Ah… Hi, I’m Carlos, you-… you must be Cal, right?” he greets shyly, fidgeting a bit with the rose.

The older boy eyes him for a moment making him more nervous with every moment that passes, then he nods and smiles, letting him in.

“That’s right, buddy, that’s me, I know who you’re, my brother talks non-stop about you!” he tells as he closes the door behind him “Yo! Abby, tell Gershwin his boyfriend is here!” he calls as he leads Carlos to the kitchen.

  In the kitchen some reunion of sorts seems to be happening. He recognizes and greets Simone, who is sitting at the table, drinking a beer. The other occupant is a man, seems older than both him and the girl, he has black hair and blue eyes and overall looks friendly. He has never seen him before, but the man approaches him and extends his hand for a shake as if they’re good old friends, putting him at ease instantly.

“Hello, Carlos, I’ve heard a lot about you, I’m Steve Carlsberg, Abby’s fiancé” he introduces himself with a friendly smile as the handshake happens. He is taken aback. _This_ is _Steve Carlsberg? The Steve Carlsberg_? The one Cecil always complains about not begin worthy of his sister? _Really_? What the heck? Unlike the jerk that Cecil describes, this guy actually seems so nice…??? Then again, maybe it’s the brotherly jealousy speaking, he himself has sisters and he never liked any of Carla’s boyfriends. Granted, his dislike was justified, they were all little future criminals unworthy of his sister’s affections.

  Simone motions for him to sit next to her, and he complies. Steve resumes his spot, leaning back against the counter, the heels of his hands resting on the countertop. Abby chooses that moment to enter the room with her daughter in her arms. She, like Cal, looks a lot like Cecil too, long white and black hair pulled up on a messy bun, purple markings swirling through her right arm and shoulder.

“Isn’t it the two most beautiful ladies in Night Vale?” Steve greets them sappily, before taking Janice into his arms; the little girl squirms, but holds onto Steve’s shirt. “Whoops! Sorry, Simone, you’re pretty too” he smiles sheepishly and she just shrugs, smiling too.

“Oh, you!” Abby says with a fond smile on her face, before turning to Carlos. “Hi, Carlos, Cecil will get down in a minute, he is a bit nervous it seems…” she explains, winking at him.

“That gives us time to talk… doesn’t it?” Cal offers, cracking his knuckles, Carlos shrinks in his seat. He had heard a rumor saying that Cal is known for landing one of Cecil ex-boyfriends in the hospital, in which circumstances and fricking why, he doesn’t know, and it’s not like he is going to be mean to Cecil or anything, but Cal is pretty intimidating. The tattooed man gives a smirk, as his girlfriend looks disapprovingly at him. “Do you know what happened to the last bastard that hurt my baby brother, _Carlos_?” his name is intoned like a mockery. He doesn’t like it.

“Y-Yes…” he answers, hating how afraid he sounds. He then lifts his chin up, putting up bravado that comes from God knows where. He clears his throat. His father has always told him to never show he is afraid. “Yes, I’m aware, but you must know that I plan on treating Cecil right, so I don’t have any reason to be afraid of you” he challenges, looking Cal straight in the eye. He silently expects that he won’t punch him in front of Abby; she would stop him if he tries, right? Also, you don’t punch people with glasses, right? …right?

  The room is silent for a few moments and Carlos can’t help but think that he screwed it up and now Cecil’s siblings are not going to like him… and… and…

  His worries are interrupted harshly when Cal starts roaring with laughter, startling everyone; he even reaches across the table to pat him on the shoulder, making him flinch. Simone and Abby are smiling and Steve offers him a friendly thumb up.

“Damn! I’m really starting to like this kid!” Cal approves and Carlos manages to give him a shaky smile, the tattooed man gets up and goes to the fridge. “Do you want to have a beer with me, _Clark Kent_?”

“Uh, no, thanks… I don’t drink” he refuses politely.

“You don’t?” Abby repeats, she seems pleased.

“No, I don’t really like alcohol” he affirms.

“Clark Kent?” Steve asks Cal, declining the beer he is offering with a wave of his free hand, the one that isn’t holding Janice.

“He could have fooled me with those glasses of his” Cal points out. “Do you know how many of Cecil’s boyfriends had stood up to me?” he sees Steve shake his head ‘no’. “Just this one, Carlsberg! He looks like a Clark Kent, but he is a Superman, indeed”.

 “Cal Palmer, you better have not threatened _my_ Carlos” Cecil finally enters the room, he can’t help but think Cecil looks gorgeous, even if he is wearing a purple tunic and black furry pants. But, then again, he would look pretty in a sack of potatoes, at least to Carlos, he would. “Um, hi” he says shyly, noticing him there.

“Uh, hi!” he replies, getting up from the table and approaching him. _‘Date manners!’_ he remembers quickly. “You look beautiful, Cecil” he compliments him as he presents the rose to him.

“Oh!” he says breathlessly but clearly enchanted, with a hand on his chest, before accepting it.

“Aww…” it’s what Abby and Steve let out while Cal wolf-whistles at them and Simone smiles.

“Oh, shut up!” Cecil shushes them (though it’s mostly directed to Cal), embarrassed, before taking Carlos’ hand. “Let’s go!”

  They pause in the hallway, where Cecil leaves the flower carefully in a vase, before going out with Abby telling Cecil that he has to tell her if he ends up spending the night somewhere else, but Carlos assures her they will be back early, making her look surprised at that.

 They stay in silence for a bit as they walk away from Cecil’s place, but are still holding hands. It’s nice.

“I’m sorry about my siblings”, Cecil says once they’re a couple blocks away, his free hand is resting on the nape of his neck in an awkward gesture, “they can be a bit overprotective, especially Cal”.

“It’s okay…” he replies. He can’t help but be curious about them, Abby seemed surprised about him not drinking and promising to bring Cecil home early, and Cal mentioned none of Cecil’s ex-boyfriends had confronted him? Exactly what kind of guys had he dated before? He won’t lie and say he is not jealous, because he is. He is also afraid, is Cecil expecting him to act a certain way or say certain things?

“You want to talk about something else?” he asks.

“I don’t know; what do you want to talk about?”

“I don’t know” he echoes, shrugging. “Anything, I guess…”

“Um…” he ponders for a second, “oh! I listened to that CD you lent me!” Carlos says. “I didn’t know I liked David Bowie until now!”

“Oh, I’m glad you liked it! What was the song you liked most…? he asks enthusiastically as they keep walking towards the restaurant.

* * *

 

Dave smiles, popping another marshmallow into his mouth as he stares at the stars above him, did he mention he fucking loves space? He has never been a very outdoorsy kid, but he really likes it here. He is lying on a thick purple blanket in the middle of the sand wastes. The breeze is a bit chilly, but there is a bonfire near him, so he doesn’t mind much.

“Well? Do you like it?” Earl asks, he is lying on his side, next to him, with his fist supporting his cheek.

“Dude, I love it! I didn’t knew you could see this many stars from here! Did I tell you that I fucking love space?” he answers excitedly.

“You did that’s why I brought you here to begin with, but… did _I_ tell you just how _cute_ you look right now?” Dave playfully slaps him in the arm as if to say _‘shut up’_ while smirking at him.

  Earl had called him a little after finishing his phone call with Dana, he had told him that he was at Cecil’s place, Dave was torn between feeling relieved that he had heard his actual words or embarrassed about the same reason. Then, the freckled boy proceeded to ask him if he was free tonight and if he wanted to go somewhere with him. Dave, not having anything better to do and eager to see his Boy Scout again, thought about texting his mother to tell her something came up, he ultimately decided against it, but he did tell Carlos. Earl came by a bit later and told him to pack some stuff, and then they got on his motorcycle and drove into the night.

 Now, here they are, under the stars, enjoying some marshmallows and each other’s company, warmed by the bonfire Earl had sparked alive.

“I think is time we talk…” Earl mutters, looking at the flames, their shadows dance over his features, making Dave’s heart skip a beat, as he thinks just how handsome he looks in the orange light.

“No, man, we don’t have to do anything you don’t want to…” he manages to answer.

“Babe, I owe you an explanation at least” he presses his fingers to Dave’s mouth when he tries to contradict him again, amusement dances on those blue eyes. “Dave, I want…, no, I need to tell you this, you see, when I told you that I liked you… I wasn’t completely honest”, the blue eyed boy frowns. “I don’t have a crush on you…” he has heard enough, Dave slaps Earl’s hand away thinking how stupid he feels for how he has been acting and how he felt about the Boy Scout. However, when he attempts to sit up to get up and leave, the redhead, having quicker reflexes, pins him down by the wrists. “No, no, baby, wait… that’s not what I mean, listen to me…, this goes deeper than a silly crush for me… I… I love you, Dave”, he freezes, but not only at those simple four words but at the intensity that manifests itself in those bright yellowy green eyes.

They stare at each other for a moment, and, seeing he is so still, Earl lets him go, choosing to sit on his heels in front of him instead, but refusing to look in his direction. Earl looks… ashamed…? And sad too, and that bothers him, because he can see tears welling up in the corners of his eyes, is he going to cry? A frown makes his way to Dave’s face. Telling someone you love them shouldn’t be making you sad, dammit. Unless… his eyes widen at the realization, _oh, crap_.

  Earl thinks Dave is rejecting him.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have done that, do you want me to take you home?” he offers politely, avoiding his gaze, his voice cracks and Earl hugs himself, he doesn’t want Dave to notice how worked up he is about the whole thing. He should have conformed to having the boy as a friend.

  Dave props himself up on his elbows to look at his companion, then he sits up, but the Boy Scout doesn’t move. He is, however, snapped back to attention when a hand lands gently over his cheek. Their eyes meet for a second before Earl looks away again and Dave slowly leans forward.

“You love me?” he asks, still advancing. Earl nods, but still refuses to meet his eyes. “Then… then kiss me, Earl…”

“What?” finally, those green emeralds focus on him again.

“Did I fucking stutter? Grow a pair and _kiss me like a man_ ” he mutters playfully with a smile on his face. Earl smile returns and his face lights up, Dave’s heart beats faster at the sight. “Hurry up and kiss me, you silly Boy Scout”.

* * *

 

“I didn’t know you needed a reservoir for Gino’s, otherwise I would have taken you there” Carlos apologizes, not really looking at his date while he plays with the straw of his coke. It’s easier to just say you didn’t know you needed a reservation than to say you couldn’t get one because they were all taken for the next six months, technically it’s not a lie (he hates lies), he really didn’t know at first but frankly, he should have expected it. It was a fancy restaurant, after all. He should have known, he should have called right away and _maybe_ they would have given him a place. However, when he looks at the other boy, Cecil smiles at him from across the table they’re sitting at in the Arby’s.

“Oh” he sighs, “sweet, wonderful, perfect gentleman Carlos” the boy blushes at the many compliments encompassed in that small sentence, “you don’t need to take me out to a fancy place, I’m perfectly happy just here with you!”

“Even if I brought you to a place that is known for serving meat when you’re a vegetarian?” he asks, before taking a fry from his plate, while gesturing towards his hamburger that has so much bacon in it, it could give his mother, who has a degree in Nutrition, a headache.

“Well, it’s not like they don’t have other choices” Cecil shrugs, gesturing towards his own plate still half full of mozzarella sticks and one potato cake. “Also, I’ve come here with Earl and Dana before; I like this place, though I may start liking it more because I came with you” he smiles and takes a sip out of his mint chocolate shake.

  Carlos blushes.

“You know I’m no good with words, but… I’m glad I decided to ask you out”.

“Oh, you’re too sweet!” and when Cecil giggles like a schoolgirl he feels… good, he feels like he is not the closeted nerdy loser he believed himself to be before he met Cecil and his new friends. “You know…” he continues, his voice gets lower now and he leans forward, prompting the dark haired boy to do the same, “…after what happened some weeks ago, I think this is already like _our_ place…”

“Oh, really, Cecil?” Carlos says, trying very hard to hide his smile. “What do you suggest we should do about it?”

* * *

 

  His first coherent thought after the rush of adrenaline, it’s that Earl’s mouth is soft and it tastes a bit sweet, which might be due to the marshmallows they were sharing. The kiss is a bit needy, but it’s as sweet as it tastes, it occurs to Dave that he hasn’t had a kiss this good in a long, long time. They part, breathless. Dave has his back against the blanket again and Earl is on top of him, supporting himself on his elbows as not to crush him, in which fucking moment did he…? He shakes his head, it doesn’t matter.

“You know… chemistry is not exactly my area, but we have the hell of one here, we should do some biology together” he suggests, wiggling his eyebrows.

  They laugh.

“ _Oh, my god_ ” Earl blurts, hiding his face in Dave’s neck as he lets his weight press against him, he laughs again and it’s loud laugh, rich and deep, very much unlike the quiet chuckles he usually hears from him, Dave instantly loves the sound. “What is wrong with you, Cruz?”

“I saw my opportunity and I took it, I regret nothing” he shrugs, still smiling.

  They settle down a bit, Dave doesn’t know why he thought it was going to be different, they are still the same, just a bit more intimate with each other, that’s all.

“Hey, move, you’re crushing me” he playfully chides, but Earl doesn’t complies, laughing instead. “Come fucking on, Freckles, I can’t feel my arm!” The red head offers him a small apologetic smile and shifts a bit, resting his head on his shoulder. Dave moves a bit so he could rest his own arm behind his head. This feels better, even if Earl’s hair is tickling his cheek, and his weight is still numbing his left arm a bit.

“Dave…?”

“Hm?” he hums uncompromisingly; he is starting to feel sleepy.

“Will… will you spend the night here with me?”

  That certainly startles him awake; he frowns at the stars above. Yeah, that’s what he gets for trying to be funny, now he has given Earl the wrong idea. Great.

“It… it depends, Earl” he answers. The redhead props himself up on his elbow to look at him, he looks confused and Dave can practically feel how his own face heats up. “It depends on how far you want to go tonight…” he rephrases.

  Even in the dying flames of the bonfire he can see him blush profusely.

“N-Not farther than what we have already done, if that’s what you’re worrying about” the blue eyed boy seizes him for a moment and then nods. In theory, he has to go back home before his mother is back, but, also in theory, she is going to be out all night. _Fuck it_ , he quickly decides, he is staying, he can have Carlos come up with an alibi like they agreed on or he can make something up later.

“Hm, okay then. Yeah, let’s spend the night together”.

“Great” then he gets up and Dave immediately misses him. “I will pitch the tent”.

“What? No, come back here”

“And risk ourselves to be eaten by the spiderwolves? No, thank you. Just give me a minute, dumbass” he says, rummaging through his backpack.

“Wake me up when you’re done” he tells him, waving his hand uninterested, before rolling to his side and yawning. If he isn’t going to help (he knows he can’t), he better not get in the way either.

* * *

 

“So… I have a hypothesis” Carlos says as he strolls through Mission Grove Park, hand in hand with Cecil. They had stayed a bit on the Arby’s parking lot, looking up at the lights above the place, until he suggested they could go for a walk. They stop and sit against one of the trees there.

“You mean your science headcanon” Cecil laughs.

“Yeah… I guess…” he can’t help but smile. He clears his throat. “I think that we… we look really good together…” Cecil’s eyes seem to shine in the dim moonlight at those words, like _literally_ shining. Uh, weird, he wasn’t aware he could do that. “Can you help me test my theory…?” he asks and Cecil nods eagerly. “Okay, close your eyes, Ceec”, he does as he was instructed and closes his eyes. _‘Okay, Carlos you can do this, don’t panic, just do it, Cecil clearly wants this too…’_ he tells himself as he leans forward, slowly closing the distance between them.

  He presses his lips to the purple eyed boy’s once, it’s short and sweet, and it’s almost like everything that books and movies say that is supposed to happen when you kiss someone you really like for the first time happens _all at once_ and Carlos pulls away. His lips feel tingly and his heart is pounding against his ribcage. He is pretty sure he is blushing too. Is it necessary to say that this is his first kiss ever?

“ _Carlos…_ ” Cecil breathes out lovingly, that simple intonation of his name almost sounds like a caress. A cute blush has spread across his date’s cheeks as well. Is it weird that he finds some pride in his capacity to render Cecil speechless?

“As a scientist, I don’t believe in magic, but that was pretty damn close…” he manages to say, as Cecil pulls him in closer, with his arms around his neck, he is _too_ close, heck, he could even go for a second kiss if he feels so inclined. “You know…” he licks his lips, looking at Cecil’s, “for science purposes, _we should totally try to do that again_ ”. Cecil giggles.

“Anything for science” he gets the tiniest bit closer to him, still not close enough for their lips to touch though. “But, more importantly, _anything_ for my favorite scientist _…”_

* * *

 

  The next time Dave wakes up, he is already inside the tent, warped in the blanket and snuggled tightly against the redhead. He shifts a bit, trying to not wake his companion up, whose arms are warped around his waist, huh, who knew his Boy Scout was such a cuddle bug? He pats the empty space at his other side, looking for his phone, wondering what time it is.

  Earl moves a bit and his eyelids flutter open. Dave looks at him.

“Good morning…”he greets hoarsely, shyly burying his face in the blanket, before stifling a yawn.

“Good morning?” Dave snorts, cocking an eyebrow. “Where’s my good morning kiss, Boy Scout?” Earl freezes and blushes, but pecks his lips softly after a bit. “See? Much better, nothing like kissing your boyfriend first thing in the morning, huh?”

“Bo-Boyfriend?” he stammers, turning a slightly darker shade of pink as any trace of sleep evaporates from his face.

“Well, yeah, I don’t go around making out under the stars with all of my friends, you know” he says rolling his eyes, “or what? You don’t want to be my boyfriend, pretty thing?” his fingers trace the freckled boy’s jaw tenderly; Earl’s eyes close at the touch. It’s the first time that Dave calls him that, he finds that he likes it.

“I do…” he says in a shy whisper, without opening his eyes. “I do want to be your boyfriend” his eyes open, “but…, do you want to be mine?”

“Of course I do” he answers without skipping a beat, then he laughs. “Cute and silly Boy Scout… how could I say no to you?” they laugh again. “I hope you don’t have anything to do today, because I’m not planning on moving anytime soon…” he declares, cuddling up to the redhead. Earl opens his mouth to speak and remind him that today is the weekly Surprise Troop Inspection day, but Dave’s cellphone rings loudly, interrupting him. The blue eyed boy grunts, hiding his face on his boyfriend’s hair. “Let it ring” he orders.

“Dude, wait a sec, what if the one that’s calling it’s your mom?” Earl says, suddenly worried that the other boy could be in trouble for this.

“Holy shit!” he curses, before sitting abruptly and desperately looking for his cellphone. What was he thinking? Spending the night with Earl was fantastic, yeah, but now his mother is going to be pissed off beyond belief. Earl finds the phone and hands it to him. “Hello…?”  He listens for a second, holding his breath. Earl fidgets with the blanket, not really looking at him; maybe he shouldn’t have insisted in Dave staying with him. His boyfriend lets out a sigh of relief and he looks up at him, curiously. “Jesus Fucking Christ, Rochelle, you have _no idea_ of the scare you just gave me…”

  Earls sighs with relief as well, it’s just Rochelle! He gets up and exits the tent, giving Dave some space. Maybe they should start picking up their stuff and heading back. The sun is barely raising, it’s really early…, that or the sun is begin capricious again and ruined it’s own schedule… again. That happens a lot in Night Vale. All that’s left from their little fire are some cold embers and ashes.

  Two arms snake their way around his waist and a kiss is pressed to the shoulder blade of his uniform. In which moment did Dave sneaked behind him? Is he really that distracted today? He looks at him over his shoulder.

“Gosh, it’s almost like I can’t keep my hands off of you”.

“I don’t mind… I actually like it” he murmurs, placing his hands over Dave’s. “How much did you tell Rochelle?”

“Nothing actually, I wanted to know how much you were comfortable with telling our friends first. We don’t have to tell them right away or all at once that we’re a dating now” he says softly and then stands on his tiptoes to whisper on his ear. “ _It can even be our little secret, Earl_ ” Dave smirks when he feels his boyfriend shiver. _“Would you like that?_ ”

“Fine by me, we should pack up, though” he says, gesturing towards the tent. The shorter boy can see that his cheeks are red with a bit of embarrassment, doesn’t he look cute?

“Yeah, let’s pack up”, he agrees, letting his boyfriend go. “Roch wanted me to meet up with her and the guys in the Moonlite-All Night Dinner for breakfast, they are probably going to harass poor Carlos about how his date went last night, not gonna lie, I’m curious too, but most likely nobody is going since we all partied last night…” he laughs as he grabs his backpack from inside the tent and the redhead folds the blanket they slept in. “Hey, now you get to teach me how to pack this!” Dave beams, pointing at the tent “because I have no freaking idea!” Earl laughs and shakes his head at the same time; he thinks it’s nice to be able to teach his boyfriend something that is related to what he likes the most, though. “What first?” he asks eagerly.

“Okay, first, we’re going to remove the stakes…” he instructs, showing him what and where they are. As Dave follows his instructions, he can see him wrinkling his nose, an expression he tends to make while trying to understand something, Earl finds it completely adorable.

“What has you smiling so much?” Dave teases when he notices him staring. “Wait until I figure this out, I’m going to be right at your level, Boy Scout”.

“And then I’m going to read a whole Chemistry book in one sitting!” he is not even teasing back, if Dave is so willing to learn something he likes so much, he is more than willing to reciprocate.

“Um, nah, you have more of a _mechanics_ vibe to me, babe” he counters.

“I do know mechanics, baby” he corrects with a smug smile as Dave looks at him with a pleased surprise on his features. “Exactly who do you think that keeps that motorcycle of mine running, Lab Rat?” he asks, but doesn’t wait for an answer. “I learned some basics with the Boy Scouts, tried to take advantage of the fact that they give badges for that, then I decided it was useful and kept learning, it comes in handy sometimes” he finishes with a shrug.

“You must look _really_ sexy while you’re playing the mechanic…” Dave murmurs, biting his lower lip.

“Oh, keep those comments to yourself!” Earl blushes embarrassed, without begin able to stop smiling; nobody has ever called him that, not even his ex-girlfriend. He changes the subject to a less embarrassing one. “Okay, now that we removed the stakes, next step…”

  A bit later, Dave braces himself for the hell that is about to break loose inside of his house. He has an alibi he thought of in his ride back in Earl’s motorcycle, but it seems he won’t have a chance to use it. He will have to make something else up and quick, because there’s no way in hell that he is telling his mother that he spent the night with his boyfriend. His mother is as sweet as can be, she even googled a bunch of stuff regarding pansexuality when he came out to her two years ago, so she is not going to have a problem with his partner begin a boy, not at all. The problem is he didn’t mention that he was going to spend the night away from home. His mother is also kind of old fashioned in thinking boys and girls shouldn’t share rooms, but seems to have no problem with him staying at the Marron household in Carlos’ room, so there’s a possibility she won’t get mad, but he is not taking any chances.

“Mom, I’m home!” he calls. No answer. “Mom?” he tries again, walking towards the kitchen, which is empty. Can it be that…? He hurries to check his mother’s bedroom. “Hey, Mom, are you home?” he asks, but again, no response. He checks the living room, the garage and the bathroom that has the door open.

  His mother isn’t here. She’s not home…

  He smiles, just his luck, he heads to the kitchen and starts the coffee maker, before checking his cellphone, thing he should have done sooner, to be honest. There are a couple texts from his mother.

_The police blocked the road from some reason, I’m going to be a bit late._

_Dave, the road it’s still blocked, I will spend the night at my friend Emily’s place, see you in the morning, okay? Love you!!_

The text is followed by a string of kissy and heart emojis, he smiles smugly, unable to stop himself or believe his good luck. He leaves his phone on the countertop as he searches for some cookies. After a few moments his phone rings.

“Hello?” he asks, already knowing who is in the other side.

 _“Hi, Dave, it’s Carlos!”_ his friend sounds beyond excited.

 _“You have no idea of the night I just had…”_ they both said in unison, with bright smiles in their faces.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, everyone! Hope you enjoy this new chapter :). And please don't forget to check out my new story "Voices In The Dark".  
> Love you~!


	9. Anniversaries and Promises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Talking about feelings is hard, letting people know how you feel about them is also hard. Prom is just around the corner, too bad that Carlos has no idea what that means.

  Carlos couldn’t fall sleep.

  He rolls over to check the bright numbers on his digital alarm clock. It is 5 a.m, the numbers inform him. But time is weird, so whatever. He had some decent sleep actually, he just woke up and hour or so ago to make a quick and sleepy trip to the bathroom. On his way back, he had heard Fabian crying quietly on his room. He checked on him, it turns out he was crying in his sleep due to a nightmare. The teen woke him up and stayed with him for a bit, making sure he felt safe to fall sleep again. It didn’t take long, but once Carlos was back in his own bed, sleep wasn’t an option anymore. So he plugged his earbuds on and put some music to pass the time.

 He notices he has an unread message in his notification bar. It’s from last night.

 _“Good night, handsome, see you tomorrow at school! ;)”_.

He smiles at Cecil’s message. They have been sending each other silly texts all weekend after their date. He scrolls up to see the previous ones; the first one was the night after their date, yesterday’s morning.

_“I had an awesome night, Carlos…”_

  He sighs dreamily. He had an awesome night as well. After their little sweet kisses in the park, they just stayed there for a bit, looking up at the stars while Carlos explained different constellations he could recall from back in Venezuela, Cecil’s head was lying on his shoulder and one of his arms was wrapped around his waist. He wanted to stay there forever, but a sudden interruption from some squirrels up on the tree they were lying under (he had _hoped_ those were squirrels), got his attention and popped their bubble. He had realized the time and remembered he had curfew.

  They parted at Cecil’s doorstep with a short and chaste kiss.

 He smiles, burying his face on the pillows. It’s still hard to believe how natural it all seemed with Cecil. Yes, there was a bit of awkwardness at the beginning of the date, but once they got to talking everything just went smoothly. Truly, it was the best date _ever_ , not that he has been in any other dates before, but still!

  He knows he is not perfect, far from it, in fact! But he wishes he could as perfect as Cecil seems to believe he is… The mere thought of the way the purple eyed boy looked at him after they kissed is enough to make him giggle like a kid as a warm sensation spreads through his chest. Is this what love feels like?

 _‘A first kiss can make or break’_ He recalls as he frowns, it’s from an old article he read once about what’s behind the magic of a kiss. _‘A kiss causes the release of oxytocin, commonly know as the ‘love hormone’, triggering an arousing or relaxing response, which also releases dopamine, a neurotransmitter linked to the feelings of love and desire’_. The article also talked about how the chemistry of a first kiss can reveal short-term compatibility between partners. Which, based on how much he enjoyed Cecil’s kisses, says they had a very good chance at begin a couple. He smiles again.

   Once the clock strikes 6:30 a.m., which happens sooner than he expected, he gets up and takes a shower. It’s still early, but he doesn’t care, maybe he can even cook breakfast for everybody?

  The mirror is completely fogged up by the time he is finished and already dressed for the day. He even chooses to use one of his new flannel shirts, that is purple and he hasn’t worn yet, it’s actually quite comfortable. He cleans the mirror with one of his hands as he towels his wet hair with the other. He stares at his reflection and tilts his head. Usually he would think things like _‘my cheeks are too round’_ or _‘I have so many pimples’_ , but not today. No, today, his thoughts are going in a completely different direction.

 _‘I’m actually handsome’_ he realizes, inspecting his face. The realization makes him smile, showing his dimples, that’s a good feature, statistically speaking not many people have dimples. He also has very long eyelashes, he never liked them, they looked too much like _girl’s eyelashes_ , but he guesses he wears them well for a boy. His fingers trace his plump lips lightly, the very same lips that kissed Cecil’s chastely and sweetly so many times during their date. His curly hair is past his shoulders now, he wasn’t used to wearing it like that before moving here, but he doesn’t really mind since he knows there’s someone who loves it.

 He has been told a lot, mostly by annoying ex-classmates, that he wasn’t good looking enough to get a girlfriend. _“But I guess I’m very good looking to boys, otherwise I wouldn’t have the amazing boyfriend I have…”_ he thinks smugly.

He freezes, is Cecil his boyfriend, though? I mean, it was just a date and a few kisses; can he call him his boyfriend? He would have to ask him today before or after class… he bites his lips thoughtfully and suddenly gets an idea, maybe he can make it _super_ romantic! Like, he can buy some flowers or something on his way to school and then call Cecil aside… yeah, that could work! He can even come up with something cute or funny to say to him! _‘Cecil, what’s your sine? It must be pi/2 because you’re the 1!’_ Yeah, Cecil would probably not understand that one, but he is surely going to find it cute.

He has never had a boyfriend before, a couple of crushes, yes, but he was always too shy to say anything. Back in Venezuela, nobody besides his immediate family and his grandparents knew that he was gay, and he liked to keep it that way, despite how it made him feel like he was lying to himself. Going to a catholic all-boys school of all places didn’t help either.

  He gets down to the kitchen, turning on the coffee pot and getting some sliced bread to make toast. When his parents wake up they are actually quite surprised, but not unpleased. Her mother takes time to actually enjoy some milk coffee instead of rushing to wake up her children to get ready for school, like she usually does. They watch the news together, with his father making a comment here and there as he eats some toast. His siblings thank him for the meal.

  As he exits the kitchen to go prepare his schoolbag while his siblings go to do the same to their respective rooms, he hears a faint conversation between his parents, so he stops. They’re talking about him.

“Don’t you think Carlos is acting… different?” his mother asks.

“Acting different? How, Rosa?”

“I’m not sure, but he woke up very early today, which, let me remind you, he never does! You know how much of a nightmare is to wake him up, he sleeps through everything! He put on nice clothes, he brushed his hair, he is even wearing cologne!” she rants, before a soft pause. “Mauricio, I think… I think our boy is in love!”

“You think he is trying to impress that boy he went on a date with?” his father asks, then he snorts. “Rosa, querida, there’s nothing wrong with that, I know I acted like that when I met you…” he laughs. “We have been married for more than twenty years and have four kids, so I guess it worked, didn’t it?”

  He smiles when he hears his parents laugh, before going to retrieve his school bag with the smile still on his face. His mother is not wrong, he _is_ in love, but there’s no need to impress Cecil, he was impressed the day they met. As he is finishing with his school bag his father calls from downstairs.

“Carlos, your friend is here!”

  He frowns, Dave had texted him last night, saying he wasn’t going to stop by his house today but would meet him at school instead. Maybe he changed his mind? He rushes downstairs, not wanting no let him waiting, but he is greeted by someone else. His father is standing at the door, next to very flustered Cecil who is smiling shyly at him. To say he is surprised is an understatement.

“Good morning, Carlos…” he greets.

“Hi, Cecil, ready to go?” he acts like this was planned, like he was expecting him to come, but he actually has a ton of questions.

“ _¿Él es tu novio, Carlos?_ ” Fabian asks, popping behind him and he freezes.

  Mauricio arches an eyebrow, fighting very hard with the smile tugging at the corners of his lips. Carlos looks mortified, which is always a good opportunity for a joke, but he also wants to be a decent human begin and not embarrass him in front of his friend, who, by the looks of it, has not understand a single word of what Fabian has said. It’s curious, he doesn’t recall seeing him that time that all of his son’s friends came over to see how he was after the accident in Radon Canyon, he is pretty sure of that, he would remember those eyes and, especially, those tattoos.

“We’re leaving! Bye, Carla, Carolina and Mama!” he shouts in the direction of the kitchen. “Bye, Fabi, bye, Papa!” he waves, before taking Cecil by the hand and rushing outside.

 Once they’re on the sidewalk he lets go of Cecil’s hand as they walk, he waves one last time as his dad closes the door. They are silent for a few streets, when Cecil talks again.

“Um, Dave… he told me he wasn’t coming to school with you, so I figured…” Cecil’s face is completely red with embarrassment and he is gesturing wildly. “I figured I could surprise you, should… should I not have? Maybe I should, um, have called you beforehand…”

“No, I really liked the surprise, Cecil” he assures him and, a bit hesitantly, takes his hand. “Is… is this okay?”

“It’s perfect, Carlos” he reassures him back, with a nervous smile. “Oh, by the way, what did your brother say?”

“Oh, um… he wanted to know if you were my… my boy-boyfriend” he hates how much he stutters the word.

“Ah, I see” he sounds… sad, disappointed even. The hold on his hand loosens a bit but despite this Carlos doesn’t let it go. “You don’t have to spare my feelings, you could have said ‘no’, you know?”

“I didn’t want to say to that, Cecil” he clarifies, making the boy freeze. They are just a couple more blocks away from the school, and he can see Mission Grove Park from where he is standing. “It’s still early; would you like to take a walk on the park before we go to class?”

  Cecil nods and they make their way to the park. Carlos notices that the other boy is dragging his feet as he walks a bit behind him, their hands still joined. He smiles at him over his shoulder but the smile that answers him is not as enthusiast. He frowns, before stopping in front of a _very specific_ tree and letting himself fall seated beneath it, dragging Cecil along with him. The purple eyed boy squeals surprised as he falls next to Carlos, who smiles at him and dares to peck him in the cheek, making him giggle.

“Carlos… um” the grim expression is back and Carlos frowns again, but the taller boy doesn’t see him, he isn’t looking at him. “What did you mean when you said… that you didn’t want to say ‘no’?”

“Saying ‘no’ would imply that I don’t want to be your boyfriend, wouldn’t it?” this is not going as planned, but the young scientist will have to roll with it. Cecil, on his part, looks up so quickly that Carlos almost doesn’t see the movement; the glimmer in his eyes is back. “I… um, I do want to be your boyfriend, Cecil… if you would have me…” Cecil’s cheeks become an adorable red, and he looks down again. “Cecil…?”  The idea of rejection briefly crosses Carlos’ mind, but it’s quickly discarded when Cecil takes his hands in his.

“Yeah… okay” he finally says, barely above a whisper.

“Boyfriends, then?” he asks for clarification.

“On one condition” the purple eyed boy adds, holding up a finger. His cheeks darken as he looks away. “Boyfriends kiss each other all the time, right…?”

“Oh?” he frowns, but then he understands. “Oh! You want a kiss?” Cecil nods. “Then just say so, silly” he teases, before pressing his lips sweetly to his, making him giggle again.

  A bit later, they’re walking hand in hand towards the school, talking and laughing, when they spot Dave walking alongside Earl, they’re laughing too.

“Well, what do you know?” Cecil laughs quietly at them. “Don’t you think they look really cute together?” he gushes to his now boyfriend, who nods in agreement.

“What do you think they were up to on Saturday night?” Carlos asks, wondering how much Earl told Cecil, if he even did.

“Well, Early didn’t tell me that much, but I bet they kissed or something, because I haven’t seen him so happy since he dated Melony. I’m so happy for them!”

“Me too” Carlos agrees. “C’mon, we are going to be late for class if we don’t hurry”.

* * *

 

Times flies by when you have a boyfriend, or at least is the conclusion Carlos reaches when he realizes that he is a couple days away from his and Cecil’s first month anniversary. Should he get him something? Which day should they celebrate anyways? Should it be the day that marks a month from their first date? Or the day that marks a month since he asked Cecil to be his boyfriend?

  He leaves some of his books in his locker and then heads towards the lab, at the door of said room are Dave and Earl. The shorter boy has his arms wrapped around the redhead’s neck and they’re talking softly to each other.

“C’mon, _Blueberries_ ” says the taller boy, patiently. “I have a meeting with the other scouts and you’ve science to do, don’t you?”

Dave kisses the Boy Scout on the cheek as they part smiling and, in Earl’s case, with bright red cheeks. Earl and Dave are a bit more… _secretive_ when it came to their relationship than Cecil and Carlos. While the Venezuelan boy will be walking to school hand-in-hand with Cecil day in and day out, Earl and Dave would just walk next to each other. Nobody knows if they’re dating, except, of course, for Carlos, while he knows about their little escapade he never got a confirmation of them being in a relationship, he didn’t asked Dave though, if he needed to tell him he would in his own time. Carlos approaches and clears his throat, smiling.

“Um, dude… hi.” Dave says awkwardly. “Everybody low-key knows, don’t they?” he asks, crossing his arms and biting his lips, trying to appear confident, Carlos just shrugs. “And you have known all along, haven’t you?” the Venezuelan boy smiles and nods. “How?”

  Carlos shrugs again as he opens the door to the lab, none of their friends arrived yet.

“Well, a number of things, actually, like, I noticed you guys were holding hands under the table the other day when we went to the Arby’s or that Earl smacked Donald Pennebaker in the face with a volleyball when he accidentally hit _you_ on the face on P.E. class while playing Dodgeball” he explains, sitting on a chair and patting the one next to him. Dave reluctantly sits. “We’re best friends, Dave, but you don’t have to tell me everything! It’s okay if you keep some things to yourself! But, just know that I’m right here to listen when you need me”.

“Is just…” he sighs deeply. “I’m not gonna lie to you, buddy, back in California things are just SO much different, I was a motherfucking _disaster_ with little to none self-respect, most of my friends were like okay with me begin pansexual, and when I say _most_ , I mean the two of them that knew. The girl that I told you I dated, Valery? She didn’t know, and I was happy to keep it that way, but I guess she suspected. I’m not as open with my life as everybody seems to believe I am, I’m not like you, Carlos, to be honest, I envy you…”

“Woah! Let me stop you there, Dave. First, open? Me? Just so you know; I spent two years in the closet before I came out to my parents and my siblings about my sexuality. For Heaven’s sake, it took me six freaking months and a _near death experience_ to get the guts to ask Cecil out on a date, I’m the least open person you know!”

“I wasn’t talking about that, Carlos”

“…I don’t follow”.

“I was talking about how you are around Cecil, you’re not afraid of calling him cutesy nicknames in front of everyone, or kiss him, or tell him you love him…” Carlos cocks an eyebrow. “The Boy Scout…” Dave shakes his head and corrects himself. “Earl…, he says he wants to go serious, and I do want that too, I just… I can’t do that! Not how he wants me to! The way I express my feelings doesn’t… work that way, I guess. The day Earl let me know he liked me I fucking _laughed_ and asked him if it was for real. He has fucking told me he _loves me_ , Carlos, I mean, we’re teens so love is overrated at our age, but it makes me feel _so, so happy_ when he says it! I feel like an idiot because I can’t reciprocate!”

“I think Earl knows, Dave” the blue eyed boy cocks an eyebrow and Carlos continues. “Everybody expresses affection differently, and that’s okay! Earl has met us since we moved here, that gave him enough time to get to know you and your mannerisms, and he fell in love with you, Dave, he has chosen _you_ , no one else but you”.

“You’re damn good with words, you know that?”

“No, you’re thinking of my boyfriend!” he jokes and they both laugh. “Speaking of which, I need your help with something!”

“Yeah, anything”

“Okay, so we’re gonna have our first month anniversary in a few days…”

  A couple hours later, when everybody has gone home, Carlos is locking the door of the lab, with Dave beside him. They exit the building and start walking home. The sun is setting, painting everything in a warm orange light and sketching long shadows behind them as they walk.

“Hey, Carlos…” the dark skinned boy looks at him. “Thanks for today, I _really_ needed to get that off my chest and too bad you’re touch averse, because I’m hugging you!” he says, before enveloping his friend in a hug that makes them giggle like kids. “I love you, man, you know that? You’re like the brother I wish I had”.

“Where did that come from?” Carlos asks, confused but not unpleased. “Love you too, by the way”.

“No idea, but still thank you. Anyways, are you and radio boy going together to prom?”

“Prom?” Carlos repeats, clearly confused.

“Yeah, prom…” realization suddenly crosses the taller boy’s face. “Oh! You don’t have Prom on Venezuela?” Carlos shakes his head ‘no’. “It’s like a party the school throws for those who are about to graduate”

“Oh, a _Fiesta de Egresados_!” Carlos then understands. “Yeah, we have that, we have a dinner with all of our families, and dance and stuff” he quickly explains. “I know it’s not like that here, I’ve seen how it is in movies, though…”

“It’s not really that much of a big deal, but maybe radio boy wants you to ask him to go with you”.

“Do you think he wants me to be super romantic or more like… chill about it?”

“I dunno, you’re the one sleeping with him”

“I’m not sleeping with him!” Carlos corrects, blushing furiously, making Dave laugh. “But yeah… I think something small and romantic will do just fine…” Carlos takes notice of a dark red bruise under the other boy’s jaw. “Um… Dave?” he calls, making him turn to look at him. “You… you have a…” the Venezuelan boy reaches to his own neck, signaling the spot as he wonders if it is impolite of him to even mention it, making his friend mirror the gesture.

“Oh! Yeah, a hickey, you can say it, Carlos, it’s not a bad word. I wasn’t expecting the concealer to wear off so quickly, though”

“Didn’t know you knew about make-up”                                      

“Dude, I don’t, I just bought the same brand of concealer my mom does with what I thought was my skin tone and hoped for the best”

* * *

 

  Cecil closes the locker’s door a bit more forcefully than necessary as the bell rings, signaling the end of classes for the day. He checks his phone quickly, no messages. At this time of the day he would get either a message from the radio station saying that he was needed or from Leann Hart, president of the school newspaper, who sometimes asked him if he knew anything new she should report on. He actually used to be part of the newspaper too, but he dropped it after getting the internship, just like he dropped the Boy Scouts for the same reason. He wasn’t good earning badges or printing school news anyways.

  The word _quitter_ dances in Cecil’s mind and he shakes his head angrily.

  He sighs, it’s time to go home anyways, no need to keep stressing himself. He adjusts his schoolbag over his shoulder and starts walking away. Today he will have to walk home alone. Carlos and the team and working on something that’s way too scientific for him to understand, not because he is dumb or something, because he is not! He… he is just not as smart as his dear Carlos is. Dana has left earlier; her brother is down with the flu so she had offered to take care of him while their mother works, Earl has a meeting down at City Hall.

  And he is walking back home alone.

  He doesn’t really want to go back home, he had a fight with Cal that morning and he doesn’t want to face him yet. It’s something silly and he knows he overreacted, but he can’t just shake the anger! His brother had said something along the lines of “ _Let’s see how long this one will last…”_ in reference to Carlos, as a joke only he laughed at. Cecil didn’t like it, so he told Cal to go fuck himself and left the house in a hurry. He hasn’t dated _that_ many guys anyways! Has he fooled around? Well, yes! Like any other teenager! Is it Cal’s business what he does or does not do? Hell, no! Cal is his older brother not his fucking father! He hasn’t done anything Cal didn’t do before he met Simone, anyways.

  Officially, Carlos is his fourth boyfriend. He can’t remember for the sake of him who the first one was, but he knows the second one moved to Red Mesa for college (he is two years older than Cecil), begin that the reason they broke up (which they did in friendly terms). Then, there was his third boyfriend who was three years older and turned out to be an asshole, who after a heated argument over a topic Cecil cannot remember called him a brat and _punched_ him in the face, leaving him with a black eye. He had apologized, and it sounded sincere, but Cecil called things off that very night and denied to see him again. That’s the one that ended up in the hospital, courtesy of Cal. He skipped town once he recovered and Cecil didn’t miss him one bit.

 Now… now he has Carlos, sweet, wonderful, _perfectly imperfect_ Carlos. His Carlos with the perfect hair, the smile like a military cemetery and the inspiring enthusiasm for science, that’s beyond cute. His Carlos that chews too loudly and who sometimes doesn’t gets sarcasm. His Carlos who apparently doesn’t sees just how wonderful he really is.

  Carlos knows about Cecil’s past boyfriends, just like Cecil knows that he is Carlos’ first one. Is it bad that he takes some sort of pride in it?

“Cecil, _cariño_!” he hears begin shouted behind him.

  He stops in his tracks, then turns. Carlos runs to him, stopping for a bit in front of him, resting his hand on his chest as he catches his breath. Once he does, he stands tall again and smiles at his boyfriend.

“Phew! Thought I was going to miss you there, Cecil, you’re so fast!”

“Carlos?” he asks dumbly… okay, maybe he _is_ dumb, after all. “What are you doing here? Didn’t you have club activities?”

“Technically, I do” he agrees, linking his arm with Cecil’s. “But since I’m the club president I can do what I want… actually, no, that would be inconsiderate of my teammates” he thinks out loud, making Cecil laugh, Carlos smiles at the sound. “I, however, told them that I had to be somewhere else today and left Dave in charge, they’re very capable scientists, Cecil, don’t worry, anyways, where should we go?”

“Umm… Arby’s?”

“Arby’s it is! I got a really neat surprise for you!”

“Oh? What is it?”

“If I tell you it’s not a surprise anymore, silly”

“Can I get a hint?” Carlos shakes his head ‘no’. “Not even a tiny one?”

“…It’s something you would like”

“That could be anything if it comes from you, you big meanie!” he complains.

  Before they know it, they are on the Arby’s parking lot. Carlos plays the gentleman and opens the door for Cecil, who giggles appreciatively. It’s early for a dinner but they order a mint chocolate milkshake for two and a plate of fries. Carlos has never had something like that together, it is a bit weird, but tastes nice once he has a try, weird but in a form that works for him, like this town.

“So… um, today marks a month” he comments shyly, playing with his straw.  He looks at Cecil through his eyelashes, his face downcast. The other boy has frozen, his hand stopped in midair, almost reaching the plate. Surprise dances in his features. “Um, I got you something” he adds doubtfully, the fact that Cecil had not started either blushing or gushing about this was certainly a cause for worry. He takes the small box wrapped in purple gift paper and places it in front of Cecil, who looks at him and, after a few moments, he smiles.

“Oh, Carlos, you got something for little old me? You shouldn’t have! Oh! Wait!” he starts rummaging in his schoolbag. “I’m sure they’re here somewhere… and… yes, here!” his smile grows bigger as he hands Carlos a small envelope with pink gift wrapper. “I got you something too! Let’s open them together, my dear!”

  Carlos nods and they both take to torn apart the papers that trap their presents inside. Inside his is a simple cardboard piece with a printed logo, from Night Vale’s one and only jewelry store. It’s a pair of earrings, instead of pearls like the one the Venezuelan boy usually uses; these ones have what appear to be purple rhinestones, though, upon closer inspection this looks more like purple diamonds, a good imitation, indeed!  Carlos feels he could burst of joy; nobody had even given him a gift such as this.

“Oh, a watch?” he hears Cecil say as he starts unscrewing his earrings to replace them with the new ones. “Carlos, I love it, thank you, bunny, and happy one month anniversary!”

“I’m glad you do like it! I assure you, it must be the only true timepiece in Night Vale! Also, I love the earrings, where did you even get them? These rhinestones almost look like real diamonds!”

“Rhinestones?” he repeats, bewildered. Then he scoffs. “Bold of you to assume I would give you something as cheap as mere _rhinestones_ , you do deserve nothing but diamonds and gold, dearest” Carlos blushes. “This are sapphires, actually, not exactly the most expensive, they’re so common here, so the price is actually lower than most places!” he winces.

“They’re not common where I came from, I love them, thanks, baby!” he says hurriedly, before standing and reaching across the table to peck Cecil on the lips. He hears the couple behind them, which is two sweet old ladies; say something that sounded like ‘aww’, before going back to their own business. As he sits again, Cecil hands him the watch and asks him to help him put it on, which he does gladly. “Is really good to see you smiling” he adds as he adjusts the watch around his boyfriend’s bony wrist.

“Hm?”

“Oh, it’s just that you seemed a bit sad when you left the school, before I caught up with you” Cecil shrugs as Carlos lets his hand go; the watch now rests against his skin. “Hey, Ceec?” the dark haired boy calls, grasping Cecil’s hand in his. “You know that, aside from your boyfriend, I’m also your friend, right? You can talk to me if you feel sad, or stressed or whatever. I can see that something is wrong, and you don’t have to tell me now, but if you’re having a problem, you can tell me and then we can try to solve it together, okay?”

“Carlos, you’re a saint” Cecil laughs.

“It’s cute of you to say that, but according to the Mother Superior of the nuns in the catholic school I attended in Venezuela, I’m actually the spawn of the devil”.

“ _What the…?_ _You?_ The spawn of the devil? Huh, didn’t know devils came this cute and sweet!”

“Oh, will you stop!” they both laugh.

“Thank you, Carlos” he says. “You’re right, I was… I was having a bad day, but not anymore, thanks to you, my dear”. Carlos brings Cecil’s hands towards his lips and kisses his knuckles. “I don’t really see the point in talking about it, it doesn’t bother me anymore. It’s just my brother begin an asshole like usual…” he rolls his eyes at this. “It’s engrained on his personality, so there’s not much to be done about it. Anyways, enough about me, how was _your_ day?”

* * *

 

“I just left for ten minutes to go to the fucking bathroom, guys, what the actual fuck?!” Dave shouts at his teammates, his friends.

  He is sure they were ten minutes, they have to be, because he counted them! Okay, maybe he shouldn’t have left the lab with the excuse that he was _going to the bathroom_ , when in fact he went in there to text his boyfriend who was on his scout meeting and would he like to drop by the lab when he is done to maybe go hang out or something?

Then he went back to the lab which was _fucking chaos_.

First of all, Louisa kindled a goddamn fire in the _trashcan_ and is in the process of roasting some marshmallows, with Stan doing the same thing. Mark had mysteriously lost his eyebrows and is now desperately trying to draw them back on with a sharpie. Nilanjana is drinking tea as she texts on her phone and Rochelle, _Rochelle Hudson_ , most responsible member of their team is eating chips as she watches the fire that Louisa has ignited.

“Hey! Quick!” Louisa says, interrupting any rant Dave may have been doing. “I got a very inappropriate pun about Boy Scouts and marshmallows, hear me out-…!”

“Marie Louisa Fucking Williams!” Dave erupts. “If you dare, if you fucking dare taint my sweet, innocent and pure Boy Scout with your dirty jokes, so help me god…!”

“Sweet, innocent and pure, you say?” Rochelle echoes. “Then who left that nasty hickey on your neck, Dave?”

  Dave winces as he touches his neck, his fingertips are stained when he pulls them away, which means the concealer he put on this morning is starting to wear off. God dammit. It wasn’t _that_ bad either. It was just that hickeys, _just like bruises_ look worse until they start getting better. He should have reapplied it when he went to the bathroom. The brand he bought say it lasted 24-hours! What the fuck? Stupid messed up time…

  The blue eyed boy sighs, trying to calm himself. His phone vibrates in the pocket of his lab coat and he pulls it out.

_“Hey, Blueberries! I just saw your message; I would love to drop by, when are you done?”_

  He smiles, texting a quick response, before redirecting towards his teammates.

“Okay, everybody, here is what is going to happen” he says. “We’re gonna clean up this mess and call it a day, tomorrow y’all are going to explain to Carlos why didn’t we do shit”.

“Agreed”, Louisa says to him, proceeding to put out the fire in the trashcan, and then asking: “Where is our dear Carlos, anyways?”

“He and Cecil have been dating for a month as of today, so he wanted to take him out or something…” Dave explains quickly but absentmindedly, checking his phone.

“Aww, that’s so cute!” Nilanjana approves, hanging her lab coat on the coat hanger of the corner.

“Yeah, adorable, indeed” Mark agrees with a sincere smile.

“You… you realize you used a green sharpie instead of a black one, right, bro?” Stan asks him, making his friend frown in concern. Or do something that _looks_ like a frown, at least. It’s hard to tell due to the lack of eyebrows.

  Messes are cleaned and plans are made in the meanwhile. Stan and Louisa are heading to his house, because she promised to bake him a cake or something.  Mark is heading home to take a nap and see if he can fix his eyebrows. Nilanjana and Rochelle are going to the former’s house. Dave is waiting for a text message.

“Hey, Dave, why are you in such a hurry all of sudden?” Rochelle teases, after he checks his phone for the umpteenth time.

“Nun’ya” seeing her confused expression, he quickly clarifies, trying to contain his smile “None of ya’ business, Hudson”.

Once they’re finally out, Dave has to choke back a string of curses when his friends start letting out wolf whistles, everything because, there, by the school entrance, is a Boy Scout in a red motorcycle, waiting for him. He shouts a half-hearted goodbye over his shoulder to his friends and his boyfriend smiles at him as he approaches the motorcycle. However, Dave stops dead in his tracks when he realizes that Earl is covered in scratches and bruises, and his usually immaculate uniform is actually muddied and torn in several places.

“Hey, no” the redhead says once he takes a look at his expression, quickly closing the distance between them and taking one of his hands to interlock their fingers. “I’m fine, I’m fine, don’t worry, it’s only flesh wounds and torn clothes, I promise, Scout’s honor”, he quickly sooths him and Dave just shakes his head.

“You should have gone home, Earl, you need to clean those wounds”.

“I wanted to see you first” he shrugs as he presses his forehead against his.

  Earl is unusual, even for Night Vale, yeah he is a model Boy Scout and all of that, but he also knows that something is not quite right with the town and is a burden he constantly carries, Dave doesn’t know as much as he’d want about it, but he hopes one day, Earl will tell him all he needs to get out of his chest. After his conversation with Carlos, Dave no longer cares if his friends see them holding hands, hell; he wouldn’t care if they see them kiss! If they suspected anything, then by now those suspicions are probably confirmed.

“We don’t we go to your house and I take care of those _flesh wounds_ for you, huh?” he offers with a gentle smile. “I’m no doctor but I’m going to be super careful, I promise, Scientist’s honor” he adds, making the freckled boy laugh. “What did you do anyways?”

“It was a test; the Scoutmaster let loose a spiderwolf in City Hall. We had to trap it before it got out of the building”.

  Dave frowns, what kind of stupid test was that? Earl was a Boy Scout not some kind of… kid soldier or something! He doesn’t say anything, though; instead, they climb onto Earl’s bike and leave the school’s parking lot. The others had already left. As they ride back to Earl’s place he hugs him tightly around the waist.

 Earl’s mothers aren’t home, so the blue eyed boy is lying on his boyfriend’s bed as he flips through the pages of one of his school notebooks while Earl takes a shower. His homework is a quick one, so he is done with it by the time the shower head turns off. He gets up from the bed and starts to contemplate a poster of the _Sex Pistols_ that Earl has on one of his walls, it’s curious that someone as sweet and chivalrous as his boyfriend would be into such band. It looks _so_ out of place in the military themed bedroom.

“Did you finish your homework already?” Earl asks behind him, startling him.

“Jesus! Give me a warning next time!”

  The redhead laughs as he steps away from him. He is wearing a pair of red and white striped sweatpants, nothing else. Dave’s eyes linger more time than is preferred on his boyfriend’s back as he opens the closet door. Earl’s skin is clearly sunburn in several areas, but slightly lighter in others. His has freckles _everywhere_ , but also a lot of scars… is it weird that he wants to, I don’t know, touch them?

  He is shaken out of his thoughts when Earl looks at him over his shoulder.

“You like what you see?”

“…you have so many scars…”

“Yeah, they come with the badges” he notices that Dave’s eyes have not left his body, making him smile as he cocks an eyebrow. “Do you want to take a closer look, Blueberries?” the young scientist nods as he steps closer to his boyfriend, his cheeks heat up as he meets his gaze. His hand lifts into the air, but he retracts it once he realizes what he is doing. Earl smiles as he takes his hand and places it over a scar on the right side of his chest. “You can touch, I won’t get mad if you do” he says softly as Dave traces the length of the wound.

“What happened here?”

“A training exercise in the sand wastes” he explains.

“…and here?” he asks barely touching a wound that looks… like a burn? If you look at the burn closely, well, it kind of looks like a… like a fleur de Lis, a lily, the flower of the Boy Scouts, he only knows it is that because he had seen it in several of Earl’s uniforms (he knows his boyfriend has more than one).

“A loyalty test” Earl answers grimly, pressing his boyfriend’s hand to the burn. “You have to pass it if you want to be the next Scoutmaster”.

“Is that what you want, Earl?” Dave asks, his cheeks heating up even more as he can now feel his boyfriend’s heartbeat under his fingertips.

“More than anything in the world” he confesses.

“Um…” Dave bites his lips as the freckled boy parts from him to put on an old black shirt with the Ramones logo on it. He is just noticing that the closet has a limited variety of clothes, there’s some Boy Scout uniforms, some smaller and in different colors and then tattered clothes in dark colors. There is also that leather jacket covered in badges he saw him wear once or twice. “Maybe… we should…” he clears his throat. “I should take a look at your wounds, Earl”.

“Sure…” he shrugs, before getting a small first aid kit from under the bed and handing it to Dave.

They sit on the Boy Scout’s bed as the young scientist starts to take some things out of the box, under his boyfriend’s intense gaze. Why does he even a have a freaking first aid kit on his bedroom in the first place? He puts some disinfectant on a piece of gauze and gently starts spreading it on the wounds of his boyfriend’s forearms.  

“Was it worth it getting your pretty face this damaged for a badge, Harlan?” it looks like he is, in fact, scolding him, with his hands on his hips and his pissed off expression, but, science be damned if he doesn’t _sound_ like he is _flirting_.

“Don’t you like scars, _Cruz_?” he retorts, in a tone that turns Dave’s surname into a sweet variant of itself. The young scientist is now frowning, playfulness gone. “Oh, come on, I promise I won’t fight anymore spiderwolves on purpose, okay?” he offers. “Is really sweet, though…” Dave looks up at him, cocking an eyebrow, Earl’s cheeks tints in a slightly pinkish color. “The way you take care of me, I mean, nobody has done that for me before…”

“Well… I love you, Earl, why wouldn’t I do it?”

“What?”

“You heard me, Boy Scout…” Dave can feel his cheeks heating up again. “I- I love you… I know I don’t usually say it, but… but I want you to know that”. There is a pause, in which Earl is just looking at him, almost as if he is trying to spot the lie on his boyfriend’s words, but he won’t find it, because there is none. Dave frowns. “Are you going to say anything or are you just going to stare at-… woah!” he is quickly interrupted when Earl tackles him into the softness of the bed, pressing a kiss to his lips.

  When they part, with their faces merely inches apart, Dave finds himself unable to utter any word.

“You love me?” Earl asks softly, the blue eyed boy can only nod in response. “Then promise me…” he whispers, leaning his forehead against his, his breath hitting his face.

“Wha-what? Promise you? I… I don’t get it, Earl, what do I promise you?”

“Promise me that, even if this does not work, even if we fall out of love for each other… promise me you will never forget me, Dave”.

  Dave swallows the knot in his throat, he knows where this is coming from, he knows what Earl wants him to say, and, luckily, what Earl wants is exactly what Dave wants to say. He wraps his arms around his neck and presses his lips to his once more; trying to convey everything he is feeling right now in that simple kiss. As they part, he looks deep into his eyes as he speaks again.

“I promise I will _never_ forget you, Earl Harlan”


	10. Meetings and Introductions/Breathe in, breathe out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bad scheduling error leads to a meeting, a secret is revealed in the worst way possible.

**“I** could totally fall asleep like this” Earl comments to his boyfriend, softly, barely above a whisper.

“Just so you know I’m already asleep” Dave replies, sleepiness evident in his voice.

  They’re lying on Earl’s bed, with their arms around the other. It has been some weeks since Dave had told the redhead that he loves him too and that made them grow a lot closer to the other. Dave’s mother always works until late, while Earl’s mothers do so on occasion, so it’s not hard for the boys to find a couple of days in which they have free afternoons after school to be together at one or the other’s house.

“Wait, you dork, we can’t go to sleep yet!” Earl realizes. “You promised to help me with my homework, remember?”

  Dave groans, hiding his face in his boyfriend’s neck. Yes, he promised he would do that, but he is just _so_ comfy right now! He reluctantly pulls himself away from the redhead and sits at the edge of the bed, grabbing his school bag. It’s a simple task, can’t take more than half an hour, forty-five minutes at most! However, this is not the kind quality time he was hoping to spend with Earl.

  Two arms snake their way around his waist, a kiss is pressed to the back of his neck. Earl is very touchy and Dave likes to jokingly tell him to fuck off, even though he secretly loves it. The taller boy presses another kiss, this time on his shoulder, before resting his chin there.

“Do you want to cuddle or do you want to get your homework done?” he teases.

“Hmm, both” he purrs, nuzzling the side of his neck which sends a shiver through Dave’s spine. “Wish you could come this Friday, I’m going to miss you”.

“Me too…” he sighs. Earl has a camp out planned with the guys of the Boy Scout Troop; apparently they had to earn a badge by surviving three nights and two days out in the scrub lands all by themselves. He has promised he would be careful, but Dave is still worried, none the less, his boyfriend is the captain of the troop, after all. “Let’s get down to business, okay?” he offers, making Earl disentangle himself from him and get his schoolbag.

  It doesn’t take as long as he thought; their homework is done in twenty minutes, but that’s when Earl hears it.

   The front door is opening.

  He cocks an eyebrow and looks at the clock, his eyes widen as he realizes the hour _and the day_ , both of his mothers are supposed to come home earlier than usual today, he just forgot. He looks at his boyfriend, who has already noticed his strange behavior and is cocking an eyebrow.

“Earl! Are you home, darling?” a sweet voice calls out.

  Dave freezes. They had discussed the idea of meeting each other’s mothers and all that was left to ponder was _when_ and _where_. Guess, _where_ will have to be _here_ and _when_ will have to be _now_. He straightens his shirt and combs his short hair back a bit with his fingers.

“Those are my mothers” is the quick whisper to his boyfriend, even though it’s an obvious statement. “I can tell them you’re one of my friends if you are not comfortable with meeting them as my boyfriend yet”. He quickly shakes his head ‘no’ in response. “If you’re sure then…” Dave nods to his boyfriend and Earl takes him by the hand and out of the bedroom.

“Earl!” calls a second voice, rougher than the first one.

“I’m home!” he calls, letting go of the young scientist’s hand and motioning for him to follow instead. “I have company!” he warns them.

  They go to the kitchen, where the blue eyed boy is greeted by a curious sight. The two women are like opposites of each other. One has wavy red hair, not much different from Earl’s, with the only difference that hers is long and pulled back in a ponytail, and has blue eyes. She is smiling at them as she ties a white apron over her baby pink dress; an unusual one Dave can only recall seeing in History books about the Victorian era. The second woman has short black hair and eyes so light that are almost grey. She’s a bit shorter than the woman in the dress, her arms are crossed and she is cocking an eyebrow. She is dressed a bit formal, with a white dress shirt, a vest and slacks. She looks him up and down before smiling.

“Oh, I thought that when you said _company_ , you were talking about that _able grable_ of the Pennington girl”.

“Mother!” her son complains, before sighing. Dave doesn’t know what those words are supposed to mean, but must not be nice words. Earl gestures at him. “Mother, Mom, this is Dave” he turns to look at him. “Dave, this is my mother Liberty” he gestures towards the woman with the short hair, who nods. “And this is my mom, Amelie” he then gestures at the woman in the pink dress.

“ _Dave?_ ” this last one repeats, clutching her hands to her chest and with her eyes practically sparkling. Her wife looks like she’s trying to hide her smile.

“Yes, ma’am, I’m Dave Cruz, it is a pleasure to meet you” he says showing off the manners he was taught at home. “I have heard nothing but wonderful things about you both”.

“Oh, quite the charmer, aren’t we?” she smiles and motions the small table with four seats, “Earl talks a lot about you! Would you like to have some tea with us, perhaps some cookies to go with it? We have so much to talk about!”

“I would love to” he agrees. “You talk about me, Boy Scout?” he asks his boyfriend as he takes a sit, next to Liberty. He is smiling teasingly as Earl sits next to him, clearly embarrassed, his cheeks are red and he is biting his lips, thing he finds completely cute. “That’s so sweet…” he smiles even wider when the boy opens his mouth to retort.

“Our boy is really _stuck on_ you!” Liberty laughs, making her son turn an interesting shade of crimson. Then she turns serious. “Wait, were you kids on your bedroom?” she questions, without waiting for an answer. “Should I remind you that this is a family house, Earl?!”

“Mother!!”

* * *

“You’re just jealous because your boyfriend doesn’t give you pretty earrings like mine does” Carlos teases his best friend as they speak on the phone.

“OH MY GOD, YOU GOT A BOYFRIEND?!”

  Carlos turns around so fast he hears a faint pop behind his neck, the color drains from his face at the sight of his younger sister, Carla, who is standing in his doorway, in which moment did she open the door? He quickly bids Dave goodbye and hangs up the call, without waiting for him to reply. He pretty much tosses his cellphone over his bed and gets up from the chair on his desk, where he was sitting minding his own business and bickering with Dave.

“What are you doing here?” he manages to ask, approaching her, “Do-Don’t you know how to knock?!” his tone is increasing in volume, but he doesn’t notice. “Get out of my room, Carla” he growls.

“Nu-uh!” she laughs childishly, before stepping into the room. “Not until you tell me _everything_ ”

“There’s nothing to tell” he says, his voice at a normal volume now, as he puts his hand on his sister’s shoulder and gently pushes her in the direction of the door, out of the room. “Now, I’ve homework to do, if you could perhaps…”

“If you don’t tell me, I’m going to tell Mom and Dad” she threatens.

  Carlos freezes as his sister looks at him with a smug smile, knowing that she won. Or so she believes.

“ _Get out_ ” he hisses.

“Carlos…”

“ _GET OUT!”_ he shouts, making his sister flinch. Carlos regrets it instantly the moment he sees the hurt in her eyes. He opens his mouth to apologize, to tell Carla that he is sorry, that he didn’t mean it, but Carla just sprints out of the room after giving him a nasty look, the door closes shut loudly behind her.

  Carlos just watches the closed door with regret and guilt twisting and turning in his chest. He never screams at his siblings, mostly because he doesn’t like when someone screams at him. Every time he fights with one of them he just locks himself up on his room until one or the other apologizes. He sits on his bed; he _really_ didn’t mean to lash out at Carla like that.

  It’s just… Cecil is his first love; he wants everything to go perfect between them. He wants their love to be like straight out from a fairytale or a romance novel, mostly because he knows his boyfriend is a hopeless romantic. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, nothing goes his way when Cecil is concerned.

He wants to ask him out at the party in the Vansten Manor? Carla shows up and he has to go and save her. He manages to call him? He says something stupid, like he is calling for personal reasons. Cecil miraculously says yes to a date? Carlos can’t get a reservation in the fancy restaurant. He wants to do a very romantic gesture to ask him to be his boyfriend? Somehow he manages to get the purple eyed boy to believe he doesn’t want to be more than friends. Cecil accepts to be his boyfriend? Fine! Finally something good! Let’s take things slow! Oh, too bad! Because Carla just entered his room and has heard all about his new boyfriend!

Carlos lets himself fall onto his bed. It sucks to be him sometimes.

He grabs his cellphone and frowns when he realizes that his hand… is shaking? His eyes widen as the realization hits him.

Oh no.

  One of the perks of having a mother who is a nurse is that she will always be able to tell you what is wrong with you when you don’t feel well. Carlos doesn’t remember when it exactly started for him, maybe he always had it.

  What Carlos has is called _anxiety_.

  He was never diagnosed. Well, technically _he was_ , but only if you count your mother telling you that yes, your research was right and your shyness and nervousness are actually symptoms of anxiety as a valid diagnosis. Rosa had suggested he could perhaps consult with a therapist to get an official diagnosis, but he refused, out of fear they would put him in meds or something, which he certainly does not like.

  He breathes in and out, slowly, the way his mother taught him to. Then he starts reciting his favorite numbers in his mind, which always manages to ground him.

  He doesn’t need meds. Over the years he has managed to find a few ways in which he can calm himself down and relax. Right now he can feel the tears prickling at the corners of his eyes. He sits abruptly. He is not crying over this, he is not! He breathes in and out again. Not many people know about his anxiety, only his immediate family and, for obvious reasons, Dave and Cecil. He prefers it that way, he doesn’t want anybody else to know; he doesn’t want nor need their pity. It’s nobody else’s business.

  His hands are a bit less shaky after breathing for a bit, so he grabs his cell phone and dials a number.

“ _Hi, Bunny!”_ he smiles at the cheesy nickname. _“To what do I owe the pleasure of speaking to my favorite scientist?”_

  Cecil’s voice, despite how much Cal says it’s not made for radio, it’s like a warm calming tea on a rainy winter night, like a comfy bed to lie on after a tiring day. It puts him at ease _so_ easily.

“Hi, cariño, are you busy?” he asks softly.

“ _Never for you, my_ darling…” that last word is intoned in a way that makes Carlos feel warm and smile. _“I’m actually almost out of the radio station, what can I do for you_?”

  Meanwhile, Carla is sitting on the top steps of the stairs; Carolina is quietly sitting next to her, reading a book. The oldest girl has her arms crossed, resting them on her knees, and a frown on her pretty features. She can’t remember the last time Carlos has treated her like this, if he ever did. It’s not her fault! Carlos was the one who overreacted; she wasn’t going to tell their parents! What kind of bitch does that? She just wanted to pressure a bit so he would talk, that’s all! He had no right to scream at her like that.

“I was just begin a concerned sister” she excuses.

“A nosy bitch is what you were” Carolina says calmly, before taking a sip of her tea mug, making the blonde frown. “What did you tell him that got him so angry anyways?” she adds, before her sister can retort to her statement.

  Carla opens her mouth to speak, but closes it again. No need to stir the pot. Carolina frowns at her lack of words, but shrugs and takes another sip of her tea, then she leaves the mug next to her on the step and goes back to her book.

“…still, he shouldn’t have screamed at me, Caro”.

“You shouldn’t have gone into his room without knocking either, Carla, he always knocks before going into our room” she says, pushing the frame of her glasses further up the bridge of her nose. “So sit there and think about what you’ve done”.

“I’m older than you, you know, don’t boss me around”. Carolina rolls her eyes at this, biting back the retort that, yes she’s younger than Carla, but since she and Carlos are acting like a pair of kids, she feels the need to step up.

  Both girls turn towards the front door when they hear their father parking in the driveway, then turn to see behind them when Carlos’ bedroom door opens. He quickly closes the distance between them and passes by on the stairs. He is putting on a black wool jacket as he goes out of the front door without bothering to button it up; his cellphone is on his hand. The sisters look at each other, confusion and curiosity dancing on their features.

  There’s chatter on the other side of the door and, moments later, their parents come in. Their brother is not with them.

  Carla huffs when everything suddenly makes sense to her. Their father went to pick up their mother like an hour ago, leaving Carlos in charge, thing he takes very seriously. Fabian is taking a nap and Carlos trust his sisters to do their own thing without him having to watch them all the time, so he went into his room to talk on his phone with Dave.

  Now their parents are back, Carlos is not babysitting them anymore. So, he left.

“Do you girls know what has your brother so upset?” Rosa asks knowingly.

“We fought” Carla answers, no need to hide the truth.

“About…?” her mother presses.

  She doesn’t answer, making her mother frown. She is in trouble and she knows it, but she is not telling them about Carlos’ boyfriend. Even if she knows he is begin a crybaby about it and she is not the one who’s wrong, it feels… wrong to do it. So she remains silent.

“Well, it’s clearly not a big deal since you can’t tell me what is wrong, so I want you to apologize to your brother when he gets back” she declares and Carla just knows there is no room for discussion. “Now, if you’re not busy, help your father with the groceries”.

-

 _“Oh my god, what a bitch! I mean, I know she’s you sis and all that, man, but that was a bitch move!”_ Dave rants over the phone; he had called him to let him know what happened after they hung up. _“You okay, though?”_

 _My anxiety is acting up,_ he wants to confess, because, strangely, it makes him feel a little bit better when someone knows he is not feeling well. It reassures him, if you will.

“I’m fine” he lies, “I’m actually going to see Cecil right now, I think he has to know what happened, see what he thinks about it…”

_“That’s a good idea, buddy. I will be close to the phone if you need anything, okay?”_

“Thank you, Dave…” he smiles, even though he knows the other boy can’t see him. “See you tomorrow at school?”

 _“Oh, definitely, see you tomorrow, man”_.

 They hang up and Carlos concentrates on the path in front of him. He stops to put his earbuds on and starts listening to the radio. Everybody listens to Leonard Burton’s show, it’s almost like there are no other radiofrequencies in Night Vale, which makes sense, actually, since there’s only one radio station.

 _“Listeners, we seem to have a lot of you asking about our station pet, Khoshekh, the cat floating in the men’s bathroom…”_ Carlos pulls out his phone and quickly texts Cecil telling him he is on his way to see him, without forgetting to add a bunch of kissy emojis at the end of the sentence. _“…our beloved cat is begin really taken care of by all of our interns, especially Intern Palmer, who is in the recording booth… jumping up and down in joy?”_ the radio host laughs. _“Did you win the lottery, kid? Oh, my! He’s blushing, I think I embarrassed him. Oh, well, begin embarrassed is a part of life! Get used to it_ ”, Carlos laughs quietly to himself, knowing all too well what has Cecil so happy and who caused it. _“So, let’s see what’s on the weather!”_

A soft ballad starts playing and Carlos realizes he can’t remember what a weather report was like before he moved here. Actually… there are a lot of things he doesn’t remember from his life before Night Vale. Things he thinks he should remember… like the name of his last school, the phone number of his grandparents’ house, or what part of Maracaibo he lived in… Breathe in; breathe out, no need to think about it now. He speeds up his walking and clutches the candy bag he just bought from the grocery store to his chest.

 _“Oh, I feel it too, right in my chest…”_ the song goes on. _“I wish that I could put it in a sentence; I wish that I could open up your head, and rip out all the things that I see make you nervous…”_

 _‘If it only was so easy…’_ he thinks bitterly.

  The music, despite the sad tone, is actually quite relaxing. Breathe in, breathe out. Once the music is over, the show will follow soon after, or that’s what Cecil has told him. He has the schedule from every show memorized on his head; it’s actually a quite impressive feat. His boyfriend is going to be one hell of a radio host one day. He faintly hears Leonard Burton continue his broadcast where he left off.

  He has bought Cecil’s favorite candy from the store. He had never seen the brand before he moved, but he likes them. Mostly because Cecil likes them, these are multicolored hard candies that paint your tongue when you eat them. Carlos finds interesting that the flavors seem to be random and the color on your tongue is never the same as the color of the candy.

 _“See ya, Night Vale, See ya!”_ Leonard finally says, signaling the end of the show.

  Carlos has arrived to the radio station’s parking lot. He sits on a bench next to the main entrance and he waits. The first one to come out is Dana, who greets him enthusiastically with a kiss on the cheek and they chat for a bit.

“What happened to you?” he asks, gesturing towards the sparkly pastel colored goo that stains her shoulder and side.

“I beat the crap out of an eldritch abomination that came out from the basement!” she states proudly. “Mr. Burton gave me a golden star!”

“Congratulations, Dana” he smiles gently, until something clicks. “Hmm, I didn’t knew there was a basement here”.

“There isn’t”

  They talk a bit more, before she leaves on her bike, telling him she hopes her mother won’t mind the mess she is going to leave behind when she cleans herself up. He wishes her luck and resumes his waiting. He checks his phone, uh, Cecil is taking his time.

 He thinks about the situation with Carla, has she already told their parents? What are they going to think? He knows he is lucky in the sense that he doesn’t have to worry about his parents getting angry like other boys like him do. They’re probably going to be happy… then his mother will ask her son if he has photo she could see, you know, just to know what her _yerno_ looks like. His father would ask if he is planning to go to college like Carlos, and what does he want to study. His sisters would probably tease him a lot and his brother would just adore him.

  His hopes crumble when he remembers that his father doesn’t like guys with tattoos or piercings, Carla has brought a guy like that once and his father hated him. Granted, it was also because the kid was sixteen when Carla had just turned fourteen, but still.

  Cecil doesn’t have tattoos; he can explain to his parents that those colorful tentacles and eyes that run up and down on his boyfriend’s arms are _really_ weird birthmarks. Cecil does have piercings, two on the cartilage of his left ear and two silver earrings in the right one. He also has metal bar on his tongue, but it’s not noticeable, Carlos himself didn’t know he had it until Cecil asked playfully but with a hint of shyness if he would perhaps like to learn what a _French kiss_ was? He rolls his eyes at the memory, he _knew_ what a French kiss was, he just had never _tried_ it. He is inexperienced in the matters of the heart, yes, but not _that_ inexperienced. It went, of course, terribly wrong when the barbell in Cecil’s tongue got somehow stuck on the pronounced tooth gap between Carlos’ front teeth.

“Carlooos…!” says Cecil as he gets out of the door. He stands up and Cecil lets out a delighted squeal as he runs in his direction, closing the few feet between them by crashing into his boyfriend, who, by now, is more than used to this kind of antics and was already expecting him with open arms. They kiss.

“Hey” Carlos says as a greeting. If he was anxious before, well, not anymore. Cecil’s smell, his touch, his voice, it’s the most soothing thing in the world. “I brought you something!” he says as he hands him the bag.

“Oh! My favorite candy! Thank you!” he takes the bag and then Carlos’ hand. “You’re so sweet! Now, you didn’t sound so well on the phone, my dear, may I ask what is wrong?” he asks gently as they start walking away.

“Hmm, it’s nothing, don’t worry about it”.

“The _‘aside from your boyfriend I’m also your friend’_ thing goes both ways, you know?” Cecil asks rhetorically and quoting that thing he told him some weeks ago on their first anniversary. “It’s not ‘nothing’ if it’s bothering you, tell me so I can make you feel better” he requests.

“I already feel better, but, if you must know…”

  Later, they’re sitting beneath their tree in Mission Grove Park, they always end up either there or at the Arby’s. Carlos busies himself with unwrapping yet another candy, his seventh today, a blue one that tastes like strawberry bubblegum and, as he would later discover, it paints his tongue in an orange shade. He has finished telling Cecil what happened with his sister. He hasn’t replied anything yet.

“…is there any reason why you don’t want your parents to know about us?” he finally breaks the silence. Carlos turns to look at him, a grim expression on his features as he too turns to face him. “Well?”

“Oh, my god! Nononono!” he rushes to say, realizing what Cecil thinks. “I’m not ashamed of you, or anything I promise! I just don’t want you to feel rushed to meet them because my sister outed us”, Cecil gaze is soft and he smiles.

“Carlos, my dearest, I would love to meet your parents”.

“What?! For real, Ceec?!” he asks, excited.

“On one condition” he says holding up a finger, making Carlos nod enthusiastically, “I want to know what your opinion about this is”.

“What?”

“Carlos, since I met you, I realized that I’d never met someone as kind, as sweet, as beautiful as you, my dearest” the Venezuelan boy can feel a blush starting to creep into his cheeks, he looks to the grass, but Cecil lifts his chin gently so he can look at him in the eyes. “Those are _wonderful_ qualities” Cecil’s voice does something to the word wonderful that causes a shiver to run up and down Carlos’ back, “you’re so caring… so, _so_ caring, that you forget yourself sometimes. How many times have I seen you put other’s needs before you own?” the hand supporting his chin starts tracing his jaw, Carlos shivers at the gentle touch. “So, now, tell me, what do _you_ think about all of this? Do you feel ready to introduce me to your parents? Do you _want_ to do so? This is, of course, a two people decision and I had already stated that it will be a pleasure for me, but what about you? Is this what you want?”

“It bothers me when I have to tell my parents that I’m hanging out with a friend when, in fact, I’m on a date with you” he admits. “It feels wrong, like I’m lying” Cecil nods. “They’re… you know, very strict, and I don’t know if they will get stricter once they know about us, I don’t think they would, but… I also want to tell them about you, I want them to meet you. I feel like my mother would adore you” his boyfriend smiles sweetly. “I also want to brag about you on the next family reunion with my grandparents and cousins, so…” he shrugs and the purple eyed boy laughs, the dark haired boy tries not to shiver when the other boy’s hand comes to rest on his neck, over his pulse. “I feel like you would like my cousin Silvia, she’s an artist, you know? She specializes in charcoal, though, not watercolors like you… oh, sorry, I’m rambling” he realizes, embarrassed. He shakes his head to clear his thoughts. “I think I just wish we didn’t have to rush this because my sister found out…”

“You will figure something out, Carlos, you always do…”

  Carlos goes back home in time for dinner, like he promised his parents he would. His mouth tastes like candy and his sweater smells like Cecil’s cologne. They greet him like nothing is going on. He can’t shake the feeling that his boyfriend is going to be eventually brought up in conversation.

  Nobody says anything other than a few comments about their days over dinner. His father tells a story about one of his coworkers, everybody laughs at it.  He notices that Carla is stuck picking up the table and doing the dishes, the idea of apologizing for yelling at her briefly crosses his mind, but he decides against it.

  He goes to his bedroom once dinner is over, and starts preparing his clothes and schoolbag for the next day.

“Carlos…” says his mother, opening the bedroom door and letting herself in, her husband is right behind her. “Can we talk, _cariño_?”

“Yeah” he answers with his back to her, knowing that yeah, this is it. Here is where he tells them. He grips the book he is holding tighter to keep his hands from trembling; his knuckles turn white due to the tightness. “What’s wrong?” he doesn’t turn.

“Well, your sister told us about the fight they had and… Carlos, I’m talking to you, can you look at me?” his father requests gentle, but firmly. Carlos complies, leaving the book on the desk and turning to look at his parents. He needs something to hold he realizes, so he starts massaging his wrists instead. “She doesn’t want to tell us what happened or what did you two fought about” Carlos almost lets out a sigh of relief.

“You’re not in trouble; can you tell us what happened?” Rosa, who has taken a sit over her son’s bed, asks.

“Carla came into my room…she said something that bothered me… I yelled at her. I’m sorry, I will apologize” he rushes to explain.

  Rosa pats the spot next to her on the bed. Carlos sits next to her on the bed; she puts an arm around his shoulders as if to comfort him, he smiles lightly, laying his head on his mother’s shoulder. Mauricio sits at his other side, arms crossed.

“You’re not usually like this” he says as his wife caresses their son’s hair. “While you offering an apology to your sister would be nice, we’re worried, Carlos. Are you having problems at school again?” Carlos frowns as he shakes his head ‘no’. He had to change schools once back in Venezuela because of bullying, the other kids bothered him because of his appearance and his intelligence, it is all in the past now, anyways. He doesn’t like remembering it. “Can you tell us where have you gone today? I gave you permission to go because I know you’re old enough to be on your own, but we would have been more assured if you had told us where you have gone…”

Breathe in, breath out.

Technically, since Carla didn’t say anything, he is not obligated to tell them about Cecil, he can just keep using the friend excuse. However, that’s not what Carlos wants. He is tired of having to lie, of hiding his boyfriend. And he won’t, not anymore, not again.

“I went to see my boyfriend”, he avoids his parents’ eyes, looking at the carpeted floor instead.

  There’s silence at first, like the night when he told them he was more likely to bring a boyfriend home if he ever brought anyone at all. The tension, and the silence, are broken when Rosa makes a sound that is the combination between an ‘aww’ and a gleeful squeak.

“Carlos!” his mother says delighted. “Oh, my!” she hugs him tightly. “My baby has a boyfriend! What’s his name? Is he in your class? Is he your age? Do we know him?”

“Woah, hold your horses, Speedy Gonzalez!” Mauricio teases, smiling and making his wife frown in annoyance.

“Umm, no, Mama, you don’t know him, but would you like to?” their son offers.

“We would love to, Carlos! How about you bring him over for dinner?” is Rosa’s enthusiast response, hugging Carlos once more; he nods with a big smile. “Now, how about you tell your old mother more about her _yerno_ , hm? What is he like?”

“His name is Cecil…” he admits shyly. “We’re on the same class and um, he… he has the most beautiful eyes that I have ever seen…” Carlos laughs nervously as his cheeks burst in flames, figuratively speaking of course, as he realizes what he has said. He covers his mouth, but his mother is smiling wide, though, so he continues. “He talks, like _a lot_ , and is a bit… umm, _unusual_ , but he is also really sweet with me and is excited to meet you two… he is something else”.

“Well, he sounds like something else!” his father agrees, a wide smile on his face as well. “Thanks for telling us, Carlos”.

“Did you thought that we would get mad?” Rosa asks, “Is that why you didn’t tell us before?”

“Well… not _mad_ , I just thought… I don’t know what I thought, even, I’m sorry”.

“It’s okay, _bebé_ , you needed time, it’s just fine! How long have you been dating him?”

“Almost since our first date…”

“Aww, that’s adorable!”

As Rosa and Mauricio kiss their son good night and exit the room, the man sees his wife’s expression and rolls his eyes playfully.

“Okay, go on, say it”.

“I told you so!” she says delighted. “I told you he was in love! Oh, I’m so happy for our baby! Did you see how his eyes lighted up when he talked about him? He is head over heels for that boy! I can’t wait to meet him!”

“I’m just happy he trusted us enough to tells us, I dare say that speaks volumes about our parenting” he smiles smugly, then frowns. “Though, by the way he talked about him, you would think this Cecil kid has… a third eye or tentacles or something”.

“Oh, stop it, Mauri, you know Carlitos is very shy!” Rosa chides. “He was just a little flustered! Bet our son is smart enough not to bring a delinquent to the house, unlike _someone else_ ” she says as she eyes their daughters’ bedroom door. “Ah! I should have asked Carlos if he had a photo”.

“And you think he does?”

“Mauricio, he has family photos on his cellphone, photos with his friends, of course he has a picture of his boyfriend!”

“Fair enough”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The weather in this episode is "Shake" by Wednesday Wolves.  
> Tuesday, november 19th


	11. Late Night Talks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes, night is just the perfect moment for a deep conversation. A dinner brings memories of a Venezuelan summer. Some backstory about the Marron family.

Cecil stared at the ceiling in the darkness; the house is _way_ too quiet for his liking. He can’t even hear Steve’s snoring, that is usually as loud as a chainsaw, but the house is draped in a silent blanket. He strains his ears; since his sister’s fiancé came to live with them silent nights were no more in the Palmer household. Today is one of those anyways.

  His face turns into a frown as he gets up. There is a bit of moonlight shining through the curtains, casting all kind of shadows on his walls, over his Jean Paul Gaultier and Antonio Banderas posters. Turning on the fairy lights on seems like a good idea. He looks at the far end of the room; his room is not the longest in the house, a bit narrow though; where his desk is, full of notebooks and cassette tapes he has been collecting since he started his internship, three years ago.

  After checking his phone and realizing that Carlos is probably already sleep and he is not going to call, he leaves it on the bedside table and opens his bedroom’s door. He looks back at his bed and shrugs, before grabbing his cellphone again, maybe he will call, you never know. He gulps and retrieves his phone from the bedside table.

  The bedrooms and the bathroom are on the back of the house, connected to the front by a wide and large hallway. He doesn’t like to pass it at night; there is something that unnerves him about light shining from under closed doors when he walks there. He won’t use the flashlight, of course, because he is eighteen years old, he doesn’t need it. It’s just in case Carlos does decide to call him, yeah, just that.

  A chill runs down his spine when, after exiting his bedroom, his back faces the door of what used to be his mother’s bedroom  He despises that room, it was a mutual agreement the siblings had to leave everything just like it was the day she left, but sometimes Cecil feels like there is someone, _something_ , moving around the room…

  He opens the door that divides the bedroom area from the rest of the house and hurries to close it behind him after he goes through.

  At each side of the hallway, there are two more rooms. At his left, it’s the kitchen, and, at his right, the living room. The kitchen’s lights are on for some reason.

“Cecil, what are you doing awake?” someone asks softly behind him.

  The teen gasps as he turns around, coming face to face with his sister, who is cocking an eyebrow at him.

“Goddammit, Abby, you almost gave me a heart attack!” he accuses, as he puts a hand over his chest, as if it would calm down his suddenly accelerated heart rate.

“Gee, sorry, Gersh” she says, rolling her eyes as she closes her arms over the robe of her baby blue pajamas. “What are you doing awake anyways?”

“Couldn’t sleep, and you?”                       

“Same here, do you want a glass of milk?”                                          

 It’s Cecil’s turn to roll his eyes and his sister frowns.

“I’m not a kid, Abigail, but… uh, are you up for a cup of tea?” he smiles as his sister’s expression softens.

“Sure, do we have any chamomile?”

“I don’t think so, Cal was the one in charge of the last trip to the grocery store, but, hey, there must be some Red Bull if you’re up for staying up all night!” they laugh.

“Fuck you, Gersh” says the man in question, closing the hallway door behind him. “Next time you go do the shopping yourself, little brat. And just so you know, I did bought your hippy shit”

  Shortly after, the siblings are busying themselves in the kitchen; Cal turns on the stove to boil water, Cecil is preparing the mugs (everybody has their own) and Abby is fishing a box of cookies out of a cupboard.

“Cal, what do you want to drink?” Cecil asks. “Peppermint, chamomile, linden, ginger…?”

“Just give something that doesn’t tastes like death, something bitter maybe…”

“Ginger it is, and you, Abby?”

“I will drink a chamomile tea, please!” she answers cheerfully as she sets down a plate with some sweet biscuits on the table. “This will give us time to talk, we live together but we don’t do it as often as we should”.

“What do you want to talk about, A?” Cal says fishing a cigarette out of his pocket and putting it on his mouth as Cecil crosses his arms and frowns at him. “What, brat?” he points with his chin at the cigarette and the man rolls his eyes. “Ugh, yeah I forgot” he says returning the cigarette to the box and to his pocket. “Whatever. So, you were saying, Abby?”

“I don’t know, feelings?” she offers.

“Can I start? I hate-“

“Cecil, please” his sister cuts him off in a tired voice. “I know you hate him, but I love him and he is really good for Janice and for me”.

 Cal remains silent busying himself with the mugs his younger brother prepared as he pours the boiling water onto them, that’s always a topic of discussion in their house, they never had a problem with each other’s partners, but then, a year after their mother disappeared, they started bringing the wrong people home, Abby had met Janice’s father, a bastard who skipped town when he found out about her pregnancy, Cecil had boyfriends who were all older than him and none of them cared enough to stay around and Cal himself had dated a girl (before Simone) who seemed nice but she cheated on him after a couple months. He decides to not let them get too carried away in their _conversation_.

“Guys, stop” he says, turning to look at them. “Gersh, we know you don’t like Steve, yeah, he is kind of an idiot, no use in denying it” he looks at his sister, who is frowning. “But that doesn’t mean he is a bad person, quite the opposite in fact” both siblings look at him wide eyed. He sighs. “C’mon, losers, grab your mugs and let’s take this conversation to the living room, there’s no stuff you can throw at each other there”.

“That only happened one time and I threw her a pillow, because I was mad but I wouldn’t hurt my own sister, I’m not a monster” Cecil says as they make their way to the living room. He sits in the middle of the couch and his siblings, as in unspoken agreement, sit at his sides, Cal at his right and Abby at his left. He won’t admit it, but when they’re sitting like that he feels like he is occupying the safest place in the world. “You know that I would never hurt you on purpose, don’t you, Abby?”

“I do, Gersh, I do” she says. “But it does hurt me when you do things like mistreat Steve; I really lucked out when I met him, who else would take a single mother like me?”

“Any person with half a brain can see how wonderful you’re, if they don’t like Janice or have a problem with you having a child then they are idiots who don’t deserve you”.

 “While I agree” Cal interrupts, “you’ve to think that there are people who are not ready to raise a kid, especially someone else’s, and I respect that they would prefer not to, as long as they are clear with their intentions, because they need to understand that Janice comes first and, what do you know? It’s the exact situation with Carlsberg, not only does he understand his place in Abby’s priority list, he is willing to help and raise Janice as his own”.

“I agree with you” Cecil says, surprising them both as he crosses his arms, “but what about the things he says? There are things in this town you’re not supposed to acknowledge, to even know, to even _think_ about, because, let me remind you, is _illegal_ , do you two really want that kind of influence for Janice?”

“And you think we like your little outsider delinquent who reads banned books and believes in mountains?” Abbys says, making her brothers turn to look at her, before taking an angry sip of her mug. “Cecil” the use of his first name lets him know that she is serious, “I’m not gonna lie, okay? You started dating _really_ young, not old enough to know what you wanted, or _who_ you wanted, what do you think crossed our minds when you started bringing your _boyfriends_ that were always older than you, I mean, two or three years don’t matter much now that you’re eighteen, but you were _sixteen_ when you brought home your first boyfriend, and he was _almost twenty_ , how do you think we felt, Cecil?” the youngest doesn’t answer, mostly because he doesn’t remember the man his sister is talking about. “First, this guy, then the one who dumped you when he started college, then the fucker who…” she lets out and angry huff. “The fucker who dared to _hit_ you, to _hurt_ you. You have no idea how relieved I was when you seemed to snap out of whatever rose colored world you were seeing and decided to not see him anymore, I saw what all of those break-ups did to you Cecil, how sad and heartbroken, and betrayed you felt with all of them, so fucking excuse me if I can bring myself to trust your _perfect Carlos_.”

They stay in silence for a bit.

“He is different” Cecil finally says, but it sounds horribly like an excuse. Cal lands a hand on his shoulder.

“We know, and that’s why we’re trying to like him, Gersh” he explains, his eyes soft as he speaks in that fatherly tone none of them have heard before. “I know it was hard for you when I started dating Simone too, because you thought she was going to cheat on me like Bethany did, but you grew to love her…”

“Because she is good for you, Cal, she-” he stops, frowning, then smiles softly. “Okay, you got me there; I see your point, guys”.

“Why don’t we plan a dinner?” Abby offers, clasping her hands. “Just us, Simone, Janice and Carlos!”

“…and Steve” his siblings stare at him dumbfounded. The teen just smiles softly at them “I will try, Abby, if you’re trying for me, the least I can do is the same for you. Where is your fiancé, tough? I haven’t heard him snoring…”

“He is at his parents’ house tonight, he is going to be there the whole week because his dad needs some help with a few renovations, he will stop by in the morning though, and then he will back on Sunday”.

  Silence falls again as they keep drinking their now lukewarm teas.

“I’m glad we’re three”

“What?” Abby asks as Cecil frowns.

“I said ‘I’m glad we’re three’, open up your ears, Abigail” Cal says rolling his eyes.

“Yeah, I heard you the first time, dummy, but what is that supposed to mean?”

“It’s just… I don’t know, man, we’re three so there’s always an unbiased opinion when we have disagreements, if we were two, we will be at each other’s throats and conversations like this wouldn’t happen…”

  Abby lays her head on Cecil’s shoulder as she reaches out to take one of Cal’s hands in her own, the man in question wraps his free arm around them. They stay like that for a while. Abby kisses Cecil’s cheek and then touches Cal’s cheek to grab and bring him down enough to kiss his forehead.

“I love you both” she says.

“And I love you” the brothers say in unison as Cal kisses his sister’s hand and Cecil kisses her cheek.

“I’m glad we had this conversation” Cal adds.

  Cecil’s phone vibrates twice over the coffee table and he reaches down to answer. It’s a text from Carlos.

_“I’M SORRY, CEEC. I FELL ASLEEP! :(”_

_“Is Saturday okay?”_

“Anything you wanna share with the class, Gersh?” Cal teases.

“Carlos told his parents about us…”

“That’s… great…, that’s great, right?” Abby asks softly.

“Yeah, they want to meet me and everything, we are trying to arrange a date for a dinner at Carlos’ house, we have been talking back and forth about this for the last two days, I couldn’t yesterday because of a thing that came up at the radio station, then today Early went on a camping trip so we all went to eat at the Arby’s, kind of like a farewell party.”

“He is going camping, not to war, Gersh” Cal points out, cocking an eyebrow. “Why are you avoiding going to his house, anyways? I thought you loved Clark Kent…”

“I do, and stop calling him that, you bastard”

“Never, and don’t avoid the question, you brat” Cecil doesn’t answer to him, his eyes downcast as he fiddles with his fingers, Cal frowns, it’s weird to see his younger brother acting this way. “What’s wrong, Ceec?”

“…what if…” he starts, then bites his lip, “…what if his siblings or, god forbid, his parents don’t like me?”

“Cecil, baby” Abby says motherly, a tone she had acquired following Janice’s birth. “What’s there not to like? You have made mistakes and took bad decisions, but that doesn’t make you bad kid, okay? You’re fantastic, and I’m not only saying that because I’m your big sis, if anything that makes my words more valid, I mean, _I live with you_ , I know you better than most people in this town”.

“Yeah, kid, we know what we’re talking about. I mean, after Mom… hmm, _disappeared_ , we basically found ourselves promoted to parents and it was scary, I was only eighteen and hadn’t even finished high school yet, but you made it easy, yeah, you rebelled a bit at first, but it was only because you were heartbroken due to what happened to Mom, but we all were! If anything, what happened makes us realize that, yeah, Mom is gone for good, but we still have each other to rely on, we don’t have to feel _alone_ … wait, where was I going with this? Dammit, I had a very valid point! What was it again?”

Abby and Cecil laugh.

“Don’t hurt yourself, Cal” the teen laughs again.

“Smoking weed is no good for you, Cal Palmer!” the sister playfully chides.

“I’m no stoner, Abigail! No cannabis for me, only nicotine” he answers, clearly affronted as he fishes his cigarettes out of his pocket and gets up. “Talking about that, I’m going outside for a smoke…”

 Both siblings watching him leave the living room and, once they hear the front door closing behind their brother, Abby turns to Cecil.

“Okay, you should go to sleep, you have a busy day tomorrow, I will even help you pick what to wear, how is that?” she offers.

“That… that would be neat, Abby…” he answers before kissing her cheek and wishing her a good night, phone in hand. “I’m gonna let Carlos know that I will there tomorrow”.

* * *

  Cecil takes a deep breath as he raises his hand to finally knock the wooden door in front of him. He readjusts the black tie his sister picked for him; it’s not much different from his usual school outfits. Footsteps can be heard approaching and he gulps.

  However, when the door opens, he is greeted by a kind and lovely pair of dark brown eyes, that resemble a deep pool of liquid chocolate… yeah, it sounds a bit cliché, but Cecil dared anyone to look into Carlos’ eyes and not feel as shaken as he feels right now.

“Huh, didn’t know the candy store had a delivery service” he says as a greeting, smiling proudly when a soft blush blossoms across Cecil’s cheeks. The Venezuelan boy throws a quick glance over his shoulder, making sure nobody’s watching and presses a sweet, shy kiss to his boyfriend’s lips, earning him a surprised gasp. He parts from him, licking his wet lips as he grabs Cecil by the tie to pull him inside, closing the door behind them. “ _Bienvenido, mi amor_ ” he whispers against his ear, before giggling, as if he just told an embarrassing secret.

“I’m _so_ nervous” Cecil confesses, straightening his tie and waistcoat again.

“Let me remind you that I’m the one with the anxiety, _querido_ ” he says as he takes the plastic bag the other boy was holding, which contains a bottle of wine inside.

“Carlos?” a voice calls over and they part from each other for the sake of manners. “ _¿Llegó tu novio?_ ” a woman emerges from the room at the right and Cecil’s first thought is that she is beautiful, dressed in a teal blouse, white jeans and a button-up white sweater with her hair down. She is smiling, showing up the wrinkles around her mouth, it occurs to the purple eyed boy that they don’t make her look _old_ , but rather show that she has laughed a lot in her life. “Well, hello there, _bienvenido…_ ” she greets him.

  This woman must be Carlos’ mother, is the conclusion he reaches as he puts two and two together. That’s, of course, before the horrified realization that he can’t recall her name sets in. He should know! He even asked Carlos beforehand to be prepared for tonight!

“Um, Mrs. Carolina, correct?” he asks, then remembering just as soon as the words leave his mouth that Carolina is Carlos’ baby sister. Great, not even five minutes in yet and he already fucked up. The woman in front of them doesn’t seem to think that, because she laughs.

“Oh, my! No, no, Carolina is my youngest daughter!” she laughs a bit more and then turns to her son. “Carlos, may I ask who this sweet young man you brought home is?”

  The Venezuelan boy grabs the other’s boy hand gently but tightly and smiles at them both.

“Mama, this is my boyfriend Cecil” he introduces, gesturing between them. “Ceec, this is my Mama Rosa”.

“I-It is a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Marron” Cecil offers her a shaky hand, but Rosa pulls him into a hug instead.

“Don’t be so formal, Cecil!” she says before releasing him, but keeping her hands on his shoulders. Cecil relaxes considerably at this, even when the woman pinches his cheek. “ _¡Qué jovencito tan apuesto!_ Oh, and please call me Rosa or Mama, whichever you like best! Mrs. Marron is my mother-in-law! It’s nice to finally meet you; Carlos has told me the most wonderful things about you! Ah, don’t just stand there, _querido_ , come in, come in!” she hurries as she leads them to the kitchen with a hand on his shoulder. By now, Cecil is completely relaxed; Rosa’s motherly tone has done wonders to his nervousness. “My husband got a call from work, but he will be back as soon as he is able…” Cecil nods, a bit of the uneasiness returning. “Carlos mentioned to me that you’re a vegetarian?” he nods again. “Oh, I hope you like the _arepas_ I prepared!” she smiles and the purple eyed boy can’t help but smile back.

“We’re having _pabellón criollo_ , you are going to love it!” Carlos promises as he puts the bottle away. “It’s a typical dish from Venezuela, it usually served with meat, but Mama is giving you a vegetarian version. Oh! Also, Papa managed to get some _alfajores_ for dessert! Now those are from Argentina, my Abuela Leticia buys them all the time for us when we go to visit her at her house in Buenos Aires” he rambles and Rosa looks in wonder how Cecil is _still_ listening, she loves her son, she really does, but he tends to ramble _a lot_. She can’t help but smile though, after all, Carlos only gets this talkative when he is completely comfortable with the person he is speaking to.

“Oh, you never mentioned you have a grandmother in Buenos Aires!” answers Cecil, prompting him to talk more.

“I’m going to call your siblings to come down, okay?” she says as the boys keep talking in the kitchen, seemingly ignoring her. She gets to the bottom of the stairs and yells for her children to come down. “ _¡Chicos, llegó el novio de Carlos! ¡Bajen a saludar, por favor!_ ” her children are quick to dash down the stairs, she rolls her eyes. “ _¡Les he dicho mil veces que no corran en las escaleras!_ ” she scolds them in Spanish, before gesturing to the kitchen. “C’mon now, go say hi to Carlos’ boyfriend, and behave well!”

  The siblings seem to instantly like Cecil, Carla begin the only one who had seen him before. Carolina is there with a book under her arm as always and Cecil comments that she has a very good taste in books, making her blush. Fabian is the most reticent one, he is usually very talkative but it’s a bit shy around new people, however, once he sees the purple markings that run across Cecil’s skin, he is as enchanted with the purple eyed boy as his sisters. They move the conversation to the living room, while Rosa gives the final touches to the dinner.

“Mama!” Carlos comes barging into the kitchen some minutes later, huffing. “Can you yell at your children?”

“What for, _mi niño_?”

“They’re holding my boyfriend hostage!”

  Now Rosa is the one who huffs, she had told them to behave! Carlos quickly turns on his heels and goes to the living room, followed by his mother. She pauses on the entrance of the room, his son’s boyfriend doesn’t exactly _looks_ like he is begin held hostage, he has Fabian sitting on his lap, giggling as he looks at Cecil and Carla is showing him an eyeshadow palette, Carolina is quietly listening to his sister, book on her lap, but closed.

  The mother frowns when he sees that Cecil’s now bare forearms and does a double take, he has rolled up the sleeves of his purple dress shirt and she can now see the purple markings that blossom in his skin, for a moment she worries that they’re bruises, but she realizes that they have shapes, which bruises don’t have. They must be tattoos. She is still worried; a kid his age shouldn’t have that amount of ink on their skin.

“What is that thing I hear about you kids bothering Cecil?” she asks, making everybody turn to look at her.

“Oh?” said boy utters, looking up. “Oh no, Rosa, they’re not bothering me at all! I was just telling Carla that she has a lovely taste in make-up” he explains, gesturing at Carla, who smiles proudly. “I bet you will be a great cosmetologist one day!”

“He is _my_ boyfriend” Carlos complains, knowing that his mother will back him up and his siblings will listen now. “He came to see _me_ , not you”.

“Jealous much?” Carla teases.

“Ugh, I’m not jealous!” he argues, crossing the room in just a couple of steps and taking Cecil by the hand. “Come on, Ceec, let’s go to my room upstairs”

“Oh, gosh, you’re totally jealous” Cecil laughs as Fabian climbs down from his lap, meaning he is free to get up and follow Carlos towards the stairs.

“I’m not!” he insists as he leads the boy upstairs and his mother yells something in Spanish. “Why, yes, I will keep the door open!” he yells back annoyed, instantly regretting it but not knowing what to say to make it better. “Please, tell me when Papa gets back from work!” he asks gently.

  They reach Carlos’ bedroom and the Venezuelan door closes the door only halfway. It’s not like he is going to do anything anyways. Cecil looks around, the room is very… well, very _Carlos_ , yeah, that’s a way to describe it.

“Hey” his boyfriend calls. “I’m sorry about all that”.

“Why? They’re all lovely” he answers him, taking a seat in Carlos’ bed.

“Pfft, you said that now, but once you spent time with them it’s not so lovely anymore” they laugh as Carlos allows himself to fall next to Cecil on the bed. Their gazes meet and hold each other for a few seconds, before they burst into laughter again. “Do you want to see a really cool book I have? It’s about bugs, it’s, uh, pretty neat”.

“Sure!”

  He walks up to the bookshelf he has in his bedroom, but he can feel as if someone is staring at him. Fricking anxiety… now, wait a minute that is _not_ his anxiety.

 “Carla, Carolina, can you girls mind your own business for a change?” he asks them without turning, earning a gasp from the oldest and an _‘I told you so’_ from the youngest. “You two are not subtle at all, can you leave us alone?” he looks at them over his shoulder; Cecil is looking at them too. They both bolt away from the door, finally leaving them alone. He sighs, book in hand, as he sits next to his boyfriend and opens said book. “Sorry about that, anyways, my Tio Antonio gifted me this book last Christmas, it’s actually pretty good! See, it has a lot of interesting specimens of bugs, especially of beetles!” he explains. “I really like this one!” he points at one in particular. “It’s a _Charidotella Sexpuntacta_ , also known as the Golden Tortoise Beetle”.

“It’s… kind of cute” Cecil admits. “Oh, um, Carlos?” he turns to look at him. “Your sister may have mentioned to me that… your father… has a shotgun?”

“Oh my god, _she didn’t_ ” Cecil winces in response and Carlos groans, throwing his head back. “ _Dios, dame paciencia_ ” he begs in Spanish, then turns back to Cecil. “Don’t worry about it, okay? Yes, Papa _does_ have a shotgun, but it belonged to my Abuelo Manuel and he used it in the Spanish Civil War, it’s an antique and it does _not_ work. Papa it’s not going to shoot you, okay? I promise” Cecil doesn’t look relieved.

“I’m not scared of him shooting me, Carlos, guns don’t kill people, don’t you know?” he rolls his eyes but doesn’t wait for an answer. “I’m just afraid he would want to use it because he… may not like me…” he says.

“Well, dammit, he will have to like you!” he answers reassuringly, Cecil just gives him a sad smile instead. “He would have to like you, ‘cause I like you, like, _a lot_ ” now Cecil giggles and Carlos smiles at him, delighted by the sound.

“Carlos, your father is here! You two can come down now!” Rosa shouts from downstairs. Carlos smiles encouragingly and takes Cecil’s hand.

  They get down the stairs, hand in hand, and, at the door is Mauricio Marron taking off his jacket and hanging it on the coat rack next to the door. He is not wearing his uniform today, but a button up white shirt and blue jeans. Cecil gulps, Mauricio is a couple inches taller than him and that’s saying something, since Cecil is quite some inches above average. His face is unreadable as he crosses his arms, looking him up and down.

“So, you’re the kid that has stolen my boy’s heart” he says as a greeting.

“Papa!” Carlos complains at his father behavior. He rolls his eyes and feels how Cecil is tightening his grip on his hand. “This is Cecil, my boyfriend”.

“I am Cecil Gershwin Palmer, sir, it is a pleasure to meet you” he says, extending his hand for the man to take. He is glad he remembers a few tips on etiquette that Leonard taught him (because he believes every radio host should have manners, _especially_ if said radio host is to become the next Voice of Night Vale), he straightens his shoulders and looks Mauricio in the eye. He gives a soft smile. Mauricio gives an almost imperceptible smile back, then frowns at Cecil’s arm. The purple eyed boy realizes with horror that he forgot to roll his sleeves back down, and now he is stuck seeing his boyfriend’s father turning his arm to see the marks. “They’re not tattoos!” he quickly clarifies, he clears his throat, hoping he didn’t sound too forward. “They’re… birthmarks; my siblings have them too…”

“Do you happen to have a sister in the force?” he asks.

“My sister is the Chief Deputy in the Sheriff’s department, yes” not really understanding why he is bringing that up.

“Oh, I thought your name sounded familiar, Chief Deputy Abigail Palmer, correct?” he smiles again, a real smile this time as he releases the boy’s hands. Cecil nods. “Such a nice lady, she and some officers helped my team with a library raid the other week, why don’t we go sit? There a lot of things to talk about”.

“I will check on the food and be back you real quick, boys!” Rosa promises, smiling at them.

  The dining room is spacious with a large wooden table, a matching set of chairs, a cupboard that shows off an expensive-looking tea set and some family pictures. The table is already set. Mauricio sits at the table, facing Carlos and Cecil who sit next to each other at one of the sides; Rosa is quick to join them again, leaving a bottle of cola and another, the rosé wine Cecil brought, on the table, before taking a place at the head of the table, in between her husband and her son. Carlos quickly grabs the soda to pour some on his glass.

“How old are you, Cecil?” Rosa asks.

“Eighteen, Mrs. Ma-… Rosa” he quickly corrects, making her smile.

“Do you drink?”

“Only wine” it’s _technically_ not a lie, he _does_ drink wine, even though he prefers stronger drinks like Armagnac or bubblegum-flavored liquor, but Rosa and Mauricio don’t really need to know that, do they? “But… uh, soda is fine for me” Rosa nods as Carlos pours some drink on his boyfriend’s glass.

“So, tell us, how you two met?” both boys look at her in confusion. “Carlos mentioned you two were in the same class…”

“Oh! No, I mean, yeah, but we met at lunch” Carlos explains, then smiles at Cecil. “He and his friends came to sit with me and the team because…” he feels his cheeks heating up. “we-well, Dana said it was because Cecil wanted to know my name, coming to think of it, why did you wanted to know my name? I literally introduced myself to the class on my first day” he ponders, cocking an eyebrow at his boyfriend.

“Oh… um, well, this is awkward… I mean, yes you did, but when I saw you my brain went _oh, he is cute!_ and then proceeded to disconnect itself, so I didn’t hear your introduction, only partially, when you said you liked science…”

“You’re a mess” Carlos laughs.

“I’m your mess”.

“Aww” says Rosa as her husband smiles. “You two are so cute!” both boys blush, clearly having forgotten that Carlos’ parents were in the room with them. “Mauricio, querido, can you help me bring the food?” she requests, standing up and touching his shoulder lightly. He nods and stands as well.

 Once they leave, Cecil sighs and Carlos squeezes his hand and pecks his cheek, encouragingly.

“Don’t worry, the worst part is over. You really gave them a very good first impression”, the purple eyed boy gives him a weak smile in response.

A few minutes later, the food is served and everybody is sitting at the table. At first, the only sound is the one of the cutlery scraping against the plates as they eat. Carlos is holding his boyfriend’s hand under the table.

“So, Cecil” Mauricio starts, “do you plan on going to college?”

“Ah, yes… I want to become a journalist, so I’m doing an internship at the Night Vale Community Radio, I have been doing it for the past… three years? Yes, three years. I’m also training under Mr. Leonard Burton to become his successor as the next Voice of Night Vale”.

“Sounds like you’ve it all planned” the father nods as he speaks. “Your parents must be proud”.

  Silence.

“Oh, um, Carolina, can you pass me the salt?” Carlos quickly says, trying to avoid the topic.

“I don’t have parents” says Cecil in a deadpan tone, ignoring Carlos. “I never met my father and my mother disappeared three years ago, I live with my older siblings” and then he keeps eating as if nothing had happened.

“I’m sorry” Mauricio apologizes as Cecil shrugs shoving another forkful of rice into his mouth. “And, um, you…”

“How are you doing in school, Cecil?” Rosa asks, changing the topic after shooting a reassuring glance at her husband.

“Um, fine, I guess? Carlos has to help me with Math and Approved Sciences, though, I’m not very smart”.

“Yes, you’re, more than you give credit yourself for, I don’t know anyone who knows how to speak as many languages as fluently as you do, or knows by heart as many opening lines of _several_ works of fiction that had been considered the best of the best, Cecil, you can recite Don Quixote _verbatim_ from the original work and you don’t even speak Spanish! Let alone Old Spanish! Just last week you handed an essay about the importance of Mercutio’s character in Romeo and Juliet, an outstanding one to booth! Also, you did _amazing_ in the pop quiz about Art in the Renaissance period, you got the best grade of the whole class and we didn’t even have any classes focused on that before the test! You’re brilliant, querido, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise”.

“Now, wait a minute, why do I have to listen to you when you say I’m smart, but you get to ignore me when I say you’re handsome?"

“Because, according to you, I’m very smart so I must be able to recognize other smart people, don’t you think?”

 Cecil cocks an eyebrow before smiling smugly.

“Well, I won’t argue with that logic of yours, my dear. After all, you once said that it was your scientific opinion that I’m pretty adorable, therefore I should be able to spot other people’s adorability, would not I?”

  Carlos jaw falls as he stares at Cecil, did he-… did Cecil just-… DID HIS BOYFRIEND JUST USE HIS OWN ARGUMENT _AGAINST_ HIM?! He narrows his eyes at him before grumbling something about _backstabbing_ and _betrayal_ as he goes back to eating, but only Cecil giggles, because even if Carlos pretends he is mad, he hadn’t let go of Cecil’s hand under the table. The rest of the family bursts into a fit of laughter.

“Good job, _cuñado_ ” Carla congratulates and, even though Cecil doesn’t know what that last word means, he smiles at her.

“You two are absolutely adorable” Rosa gushes as she stands up from the table. “I’m going to bring the dessert, okay?”

  As Rosa leaves the dining room, the phone rings. Carolina is the one who gets up from the table and rushes to answer. The call is for Mauricio, he is needed at the office _again_. His wife is clearly disappointed, but insists he stays at least for dessert. She then places a yellow box with big bold red letters and opens it.

“Oh my god, yes, _Alfajores Havanna_!” Carlos says happily, almost sing-song like as he reaches into the box. “Glaze or chocolate, Ceec?”

“Um… chocolate?”

  Carlos grabs two alfajores from the box, they’re wrapped in golden aluminum paper and he smiles as he hands Cecil one of the treats. The purple eyed boy stares at it for a moment, not really knowing what to do with it at first, then busies himself by unwrapping it like he had seen Carlos doing. It kind of looks like a big biscuit that was bathed in chocolate, he looks at the Venezuelan boy, who is taking a bite already. Noticing his stare, he smiles and gestures him to do the same. Cecil then takes a small, shy bite.

“Hmm!” he hums appreciatively.

“I knew you will like it! We do have these in Venezuela but I prefer the Argentinean ones” Carlos tells him. “We always buy this brand when we go to Buenos Aires!”

 Half an hour later, Mauricio is preparing to leave for work. He is already at the door, already changed out of his dress button up shirt and jeans, with a duffel bag by his feet as the kids say goodbye to him.

“You all give Papa a kiss so he can go to work” Rosa instructs her children, even though they already know that.

Mauricio bends a little so Carla and Carolina can kiss his cheeks and he smiles at them. They both wish him good luck as they go upstairs to watch a movie on their room, their mother reminds them that bedtime will be soon. Next is Fabian, who Mauricio picks up, so the little boy kisses his cheek as well and hugs him around the neck.

“Promise you will catch the bad guys?”

“Only if you promise to be good to Mama while I’m away” he smiles and nods eagerly. “Good, go watch that movie with your sisters until Mama says is time for bed” he releases his son, who goes straight to the stairs.

  That’s when they realize Cecil is there too, just kind of awkwardly standing there, at the entrance of the dining room.

“Oh… um” he mutters when he is seen. He approaches them three until he is standing next to Carlos “Mauricio, before you leave I-…” he takes a deep breath. “I wanted to thank you and Rosa for tonight, you two had been really welcoming and kind to me…” the woman doesn’t allow him to finish it, she closes the distance between them and hugs him tightly. When she parts she even pinches one of his cheeks, softly.

“There’s nothing to thank for, _cariño_ , we’re just glad our son has someone as special as _you_ in his life. He has told us a lot about you, especially about those times you had helped him with his anxiety or his insecurities, and, believe you me, it means more to me than it means to him”, she brushes the hair out of Cecil’s eyes and strokes his cheek as she smiles. “I can rest easy knowing that my Carlitos has someone who loves him so much and makes him so happy!” Cecil’s eyes weren’t watering at those words, they _totally weren’t_. “Say bye to Papa and go pick up the table, Carlos” she says, letting go of Cecil and turning to his son.

“I will help!” the purple eyed boy volunteers.

“Oh, _cariño_ , you don’t have to!”

“I want to” he insists, smiling. “Shall we, Carlos?”

“I will join you in a minute, _querido_ ” Carlos then turns towards his parents as his boyfriend disappears into the dining room. “ _Thank you both_ ” he says in Spanish smiling at them.

“ _We wanted to meet him as much as you wanted to introduce him to us. He is lovely, Carlos_ ” Rosa answers, also in Spanish.

“ _He seems like he will be good for you, if he isn’t already. I like him”_ Mauricio adds, before his phone rings, he picks it up, switching back to English. “Hello? Yeah, Robert, I’m on my way. What…? Ugh, how long? Until dawn? Is it really that bad? Um, fine I see, I will be there soon” he hangs up and turns towards his wife and son. “The Sheriff’s department is closing down the roads, I guess, it will be best if Cecil stays the night”.

  The boy in purple enters the room again, holding his cellphone and looking shy.

“Oh… I’m sorry to interrupt, but my sister asks if she could perhaps talk to you, Rosa?” he requests.

* * *

  Some hours later, the dishes are done, the table is clean, and Mauricio is still gone. Abby had known about the closed roads, so that’s why she called Rosa, to ask if Cecil could stay the night and promising to pick him up first thing in the morning.

  That’s why now Cecil is lying in bed in the guestroom, wearing one of Carlos’ shirts and scrolling through Instagram, he woke up sometime around the early morning and couldn’t fall back asleep. He is glad he didn’t forget to bring his phone charger; otherwise he would be really bored right now. He starts checking his messages on the app and notices that someone else is online…

 **@Ceec_GP:** What are you doing awake?

 **@Science_is_Neat:** what are *you* doing awake?

 **@Science_is_Neat:** Wait a sec, I’m going to do a thing.

  Cecil keeps staring at the screen, hoping that Carlos is thinking of sending him a cute cat video or something. However, the next thing he knows is that the door of the guestroom is opening.

“Hi” Carlos whispers. “Can I come in?”

  Cecil smiles over his shoulder, before turning to lie on his back and opening the covers for his boyfriend. The Venezuelan boy smiles, mostly to himself, knowing the purple eyed boy can’t really see him in the darkness as he closes the door behind him. Not fully, he needs to make a quick escape if either of his parents wakes up, after all.

  He then crawls in bed next to Cecil, something catches his attention as he does so thanks to the moonlight that illuminates the general area of the bed. He frowns. Cecil is only wearing his shirt; a red flannel that was gift from his cousin Silvia and that she estimated would fit him, but in fact is a size or two bigger, and his boyfriend looks really cute on it. It’s not his cuteness what attracted his attention.

“Cecil?” he calls as the boy leaves his cellphone charging on the bedside table. “Are those…?” he struggles to find a word, because he knows it in Spanish, but he can’t recall it in English. “Um…?”

“Stockings… yeah…” Cecil says, not meeting his eyes and quickly pulling the covers up to his chin.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable”

“No, it’s okay…” he scratches his cheek, still not meeting his eyes. “My last boyfriend didn’t like them, but I wear them anyways because _I_ like them… they make me feel pretty, I guess… do you… dislike them or…?”

“No, they look good on you…” he quickly compliments, interrupting him with a reassuring smile but his boyfriend doesn’t moves as he finally gets under the covers with him. “Your ex sounds like a jerk… I personally think you look pretty in _everything_ ”. Now, Cecil smiles, making him smile wider. “Do you wear them often?”

“Yeah… I mean, not to sleep, I made an exception today” he explains as he pushes down the covers again so Carlos can see his thighs. “These are black, but I have, like, the whole rainbow. Coming to think of it, I also own a rainbow striped pair. They look nice under my dress shirt and slacks…”

“Agreed” he says, not taking his eyes off of Cecil as the purple eyed boy pulls the covers up to his shoulder.

“…I wear corsets sometimes too…” he admits in a whisper.

“I would love to see you in one”

“Wait, for real?” he asks surprised, his eyes going wide and Carlos, realizing what he had just said, covers his mouth, his eyes widen as well. “Carlooos, I didn’t know you liked lingerie!”

“…yeah me neither…”

  Silence falls between them. Carlos takes his hand and interlocks their fingers, making Cecil giggle and blush. In the back of his mind, he takes in the situation; he is in bed with his boyfriend, who is wearing nothing but his flannel and lingerie and, while they’re not doing anything (and won’t do in the near future either), he can’t help but worry about his parents waking up and deciding to check on their guest, even when he knows the low possibility of that happening. Is his Papa even back from work?

  His cheeks flush deeply as the realization hits him. He is sharing the bed with Cecil.

He is _sharing the bed_ with _Cecil_. He will definitely have a fun time trying to explain _this_ to his parents if they’re caught, huh. Maybe he should just go back to his room?

“Can we cuddle?” Cecil asks, barely above a whisper, his eyes shining hopefully.

  Carlos has to admit that, when Cecil is looking at him like _that_ , he can’t really say no, can he? So, instead, he nods and releases his boyfriend’s hand to hug his waist and pull him closer. The boy sighs and hugs his torso, hiding his face on the crook of Carlos’ neck. Well, he is the one who had the brilliant idea of sneaking here; he basically brought this upon himself.

“Hmm… I really like the cologne you’re wearing, is it new?” the taller boy asks, nuzzling the side of his neck.

“Yeah… um, he-hey, did you know that whe-when…?” he coughs into his fist, trying not to show how nervous this is making him, time to do what he does best: _avoid awkward silence by info-dumping about science_. “A study shows that when you are holding someone close your heartbeat starts synchronizing with theirs, but only if you’re in love with them…”

“Ohhh, are our hearts doing that now?”

“It’s very likely, yes”.

  He caresses Cecil’s hair, realizing this is the closest he has come to tell Cecil he loves him. Has he not done it yet? He frowns, he is pretty sure he should have said it at least once by now. Is Cecil expecting him to say it? If so, should he say it _now_? He can feel the familiar twist in his guts as the thought fills him with anxiety, no; he is quite not ready to say it. Not yet.

“Carlos?” he makes a non-committal sound in response, prompting him to finish. “Do you think the moon is real?” the boy asks, tilting his head back to look at him.

  Carlos chuckles as his boyfriend repositions himself so they’re face to face. And, trying of course to be as quiet as possible because Carlos’ parents are literally in the next room over, they talk for a long time, about nothing and everything: things like school (because there’s totally something between Coach Nazr al-Mujaheed and the lady from the antique store that swings by occasionally); their friends, (like when are Dave and Earl going to come clean about the relationship with everybody else or if they should find a girlfriend for Dana or for Mark); how things are going to be when they finally start college (Carlos has already seen the dorm that was reserved for him because of the scholarship thing and he is most likely going to be roommates with Dave, so he is thrilled about it); their families (Rosa is completely enamored with Cecil, _yes_ , querido, for real and how’s baby Janice doing) and, after some time, that seemed like _hours_ to them both, they fall silent.

“Are you tired, dear? You look like you’re going to fall asleep right now”.

“Yeah, I’m sleepy” Carlos admits, stifling a yawn “but, to be honest, I just want to talk to you all night”, he covers his mouth as he yawns, unable to stop it this time. _‘I also don’t want to risk us to my parents finding me here in the morning’_ , he thinks but doesn’t say.

“Let’s talk about something else then…” Cecil suggests, he taps his chin, “sex?”

“ _Cecil_!” he hisses in response, trying not to show how flustered that simple word has made him, and secretly glad that the moonlight peeking through the blinds is not bright enough to let Cecil know he is blushing.

“Carlos, it’s a completely normal topic…”

  The Venezuelan boy coughs into his fist, again and recomposes himself.

“Have you ever…?” he leaves the question lingering in the air, trying to ignore the warmth in his cheeks. Cecil is right, this is a completely normal topic for them to discuss, they’re a couple after all.

  Besides, Carlos is seventeen and has never had a boyfriend before, now that he has one as gorgeous as the purple eyed boy, it’s actually not hard to think about things that are everything but chaste, especially knowing that his Cecil fancies wearing lingerie. He won’t think about it, though, it feels like he is disrespecting Cecil by doing so.

“Yeah, with my last boyfriend…” Cecil says, playing with the neckline of his boyfriend’s nerdy t-rex kigurumi he usually wears to sleep. The purple eyed boy thinks he looks completely _adorkable_ in it, but knowing how self-conscious his boyfriend is, he doesn’t say anything. Carlos, on his part, notices an edge to Cecil’s voice, like sadness but not quite…

“Do you regret it?”

“No, not really” he shrugs, still not meeting his eyes. “I was in love with him when it happened and I wanted it to happen, so no” and those words had definitely not sparked a flash of jealousy on Carlos, of course not. “Looking back, though, he was an asshole and I kind of feel bad for not realizing it sooner… but, you know what they say, you’ve to kiss a few frogs before you find the prince…” he strokes Carlos’ cheek with his fingertips, before carding his fingers through his hair. The boy frowns, because he knows who Cecil is talking about, they had talked about past partners (or lack of thereof) before and, even when Carlos doesn’t tend to hate people he hadn’t met… no… not hate, he feels _pity_ for him, for not realizing what he had and letting Cecil go. “What about you?”

“Uh?” he mutters as he is shaken out of his thoughts. “Oh! Um, well, you’re my first boyfriend, you know that, Ceec”

“Love and desire don’t always walk together, Carlos”

“I know that… b-but they do for _me_ ” he can’t bring himself to look at Cecil in the eyes as he says those words, wishing he could be more confident when he speaks, like Cecil does. “How do you do it?” he then asks his boyfriend. The young journalist’s hand freezes, still tangled in Carlos’ curls and he can see his eyes widen.

“You mean you _don’t know_?”

  Carlos groans in embarrassment as he snuggles closer to Cecil so he can hide his face on the crook of his neck.

“Dammit, that’s totally not what I meant, I- I do know how _that_ works, I was talking about the way you talk, how do you do it? You can talk about _everything_ without it bothering you, I’m lucky if I get five minutes where I don’t regret every word that has come out of my mouth since I was born…”

“Oh, darling, bold of you to assume I don’t regret things I had said!” the boy says as he resumes running his fingers through his hair, and a part of Carlos wishes he would stop that, because, as nice as it feels, is making him even more sleepier than he already was. “Also, just because you know how to do _that_ , doesn’t mean there’s nothing I can _teach you_ ” he doesn’t see his face, but he can almost _hear_ the smug smile that his boyfriend must be sporting right now. “And _that_ is called _sex_ , Carlos, saying so it’s not going to hurt you, Jesus Christ”.

“You’re right… wait, Jesus Christ? Cecil, weren’t you Jewish?”

“My point is” he continues, ignoring his comment. “…if you are not even comfortable with talking about this…” he sighs, lifting Carlos’ chin so they lock eyes. “Look, baby, I’m not rushing you, okay? I would _never_ rush you, but you have to be comfortable with talking about this, so later you can, like, tell me what’s okay, what’s not, where do your limits stand, that kind of thing, you understand?” Carlos nods and Cecil kisses his nose. “Good. Also there’s like a ton of paperwork to fill first, anyways”.

“Paperwork?”

“Don’t they have that where you’re from?” Carlos shakes his head ‘no’. “Ah, I see, basically, you have to go to City Hall and get some forms we’ve to fill, and then we have to go to the hospital to get some blood tests done, it’s quicker than it sounds, I promise”, this time he nods in agreement, Rosa, begin an nurse and all, constantly drills into Carlos’ head the idea that yearly blood exams are important, especially now that he has a boyfriend. After tonight, she is probably thinking about how to bring it up.

“What happens if we like… don’t fill the paperwork?”

“Ohhh, you’re so bad!” Cecil gushes, before turning serious. “I know filling those papers can sound intimidating if it’s your first time, but if we don’t, we are going to get a fine, I mean, it’s not that expensive and for you it would be totally worth it, but since you’re not eighteen yet they’re going to send it to your parents” he laughs at Carlos’ horrified expression.

“It’s so crazy…” he admits. “All couples have to fill those?”

“I mean, you don’t have to be a couple, you have to fill it for a one-night stand too… also, coming to think of it, not _all couples_ , couples who live together or are married are exempt from the paperwork”.

“…no wonder you think I’m a bad boy, I don’t know half the rules of this town! Actually, I _am_ a bad boy, I’m, like, bad at everything” Cecil giggles.

“You’re good at science…” Cecil counterattacks. “…and at begin a good boyfriend…” he presses his lips against his cheek and Carlos smiles, then looks at the clock and sighs, five in the morning. His boyfriend notices. “You have to go back?” he nods and Cecil presses his lips to his once, sweetly. “Okay… see you at breakfast?”

“Yeah, see you at breakfast…”

  They give each other another soft and sweet kiss on the lips, before Carlos opens the covers and leaves the warmth of the blankets. He double-checks to see if anyone is up or if there’s any open doors other than his own, once he is sure there are no witnesses he all but runs to his bedroom, closing the door quietly behind him.

 Mauricio shakes his head, chuckling quietly to himself as he finishes going up the stairs and having witnessed his son rushing into his room, the only reason for that could be… he looks at the guestroom, with the door slightly ajar, and chuckles again. He can’t really get mad at Carlos. He himself was a teenage boy once. Plus, he trusts his oldest son to know what is appropriate to do in the house and what is not. He wouldn’t really care if Cecil stayed in Carlos room for the night, but if they allowed that, then they would have to also allow Carla’s boyfriends to stay the night in her room and he is not letting that happen anytime soon.

  As he goes into the bathroom to brush his teeth, he gets lost, not in his thoughts, but on a memory.

_Mauricio, then seventeen years old, had a tendency to sneak out in the middle of the night, he will then take his bike and ride towards his girlfriend’s house as silently as he could. Then he would go to the backyard and knock gently on the window of her room._

_“Mauricio!” she would say, as always. “What are you doing here? If my Papa sees you he is going to get the shotgun!”_

_But, like always, she would open the window and let him in, and he would take a moment to look at her. How she looked in her oversized red two-piece pajamas and with her messy long black curls let loose._

_“Rosa Ramírez, you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen…” he would then say, making her giggle and blush as they sat by the window, because he needed a quick escape route if Mr. Ramírez  decided to check on his daughter._

_The warm summer breeze of the early morning would gently blow in from the open window as they talked for hours on end, about nothing and everything. And, sometimes, even about their future life together…_

_“As charming as always, aren’t you_ Argentino? _” he rolled his eyes at the silly nickname their classmates used for him, he had moved to Venezuela the year prior due to the situation his family faced back in Argentina, they sure weren’t the only ones who flew the country when General Videla and his Junta Militar took over the Argentinian government, but his classmates surely found funny to call him by his nationality. His brother Antonio was the lucky one who didn’t deal with that crap, given that he was in college. Rosa was the only one who Mauricio would allow to get away with it, though. “You surely weren’t kidding when you told me you wanted a big family!”_

 _“All I’m saying is that you may not like the idea_ now _, but imagine just how cute it is going to look when you’re back from work and you see me taking care of Carlos and his nine siblings!”_

_“Carlos?”_

_“Yeah, Carlos, that’s what we will name our first son” he said matter-of-factly._

_“Um… Carlos?” she repeated, thoughtfully stroking her chin. “Carlos… yeah, I like that name. Carlos it is”._

 Mauricio lets out a soft breathy laugh as he sits on the bed he shares with his wife and proceeds to untie his lace boots. As he is undoing the second one, a pair of arms find his way around his torso.

“Did I wake you?” he asks, even though he already knows the answer. Of course he hadn’t wake her, his wife may complain how their oldest son is a nightmare to wake up in the mornings, but she herself is a heavy sleeper too.

“No. What are you laughing about anyways?” Rosa questions, still obviously sleepy as she rests her chin on his shoulder.

“Just remembering something… do you remember back in Venezuela when we were kids and I visited you at night?”

“How can I forget? I was always _terrified_ of my father finding you in my room…” she frowns as her husband gets under the covers with her. “Wait a second, _querido,_ the reason you’re remembering this is the one I think it is?” Mauricio doesn’t answer. “Oh my god, _he didn’t_ ” she complains, exasperated.

“Ah, Rosa, as smart as always” he then says. “They’re young and clearly in love, _querida_ , I see nothing wrong with it, Carlos already went back to his room anyways”.

“He shouldn’t have gone in there in the first place” she sighs, defeated. “But, yeah, you’re right, it’s not different from what we did when we were young… how was work?” she then asks, changing the subject as she strokes her husband’s cheek. “And just so you know, next time they call you from work, they would first have to have a little chat with me…” Mauricio only laughs at her.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way _, mi amor_ ”.

Next morning arrives, and Rosa is more than ready to scold Carlos, like Mauricio, she doesn’t really mind her son sharing a room with his boyfriend; she knows how shy he is. He wouldn’t try anything, but if he _did_ indeed do something… well…

“It’s different to what we did back then, I just realized” Rosa tells Mauricio as she gets dressed. “Because I didn’t have sisters that would copy my bad example, plus, I don’t think he was mindful enough to buy condoms, STDs don’t care about sexuality, you know?”

“Fair enough” her husband concedes cheeks slightly pink and wishing to change the topic, nobody wants to think about their kid having sex, do they? “What are we having for breakfast?”

  Rosa laughs at him as she exits their bedroom before putting her poker face on. She checks on her other children and smiles at their sleeping faces. However, the door to the guestroom is open and the room is empty. Dammit, she was hoping she would be able to scold Carlos in peace and she was totally not going to do it in front of his boyfriend.

 She hears soft whispers and giggles in the kitchen as she goes down the stairs and stands in the kitchen doorway. Carlos is at the stove, making something that smells really good. Cecil is hugging him by the waist as he hums a song against Carlos’ shoulder. The image is so domestic and it reminds her so much of her first days living with Mauricio that she doesn’t dare to say anything; instead she shakes her head and smiles as she goes back upstairs to the bathroom.

“What are you singing?” Carlos asks as he flips the arepa on the pan. Cecil found curious that something like that could be eaten for both dinner and breakfast, but the Venezuelan boy didn’t find it weird, they that all the time back in his home country, plus aren’t waffles like that too?

“Weather from a few days ago, it’s stuck in my head since then” he answers, shrugging. “ _There’s an old voice in my head, that’s holding me back, well tell her that I miss our little talks. Soon it will all be over, and buried with our past. We used to play outside when we were young and full of life and full of love…”_ he sings softly, burying his nose in Carlos’ black curls.

“I love you when you’re singing…” he comments. “I mean, I love you at every moment but still” he clarifies, making Cecil freeze. “Ceec…?” he asks, looking over his shoulder, but his boyfriend has pulled away from him, he turns off the stove and turns to look at his boyfriend, who looks at him, eyes shining like he has just been told tomorrow is Christmas. “Cecil, is everything okay?”

“You love me?” he interrupts. Carlos eyes widen, realizing what he has said and blushes. He didn’t plan on saying it so soon, especially after not begin able to say it last night.

“I do, Cecil. Do you…? Wait, no, you don’t have to answer that now, I shouldn’t have asked” he is interrupted when his boyfriend’s takes his face in his hands and presses a kiss to his lips, once, sweet and chaste.

“You can ask, because yes, I love you so, _so_ much, my perfectly imperfect scientist” he whispers. “I love you too, Carlos”

“I love you, my honey-voiced honey” he says, smiling, and totally planning on going in for a second kiss, when he hears his brother shouting from the stairs.

 _“¡Me toca ver dibujitos!”_ Fabian says as he barges into the kitchen. He frowns in disappointment when he sees is already occupied by his brother and his boyfriend. Cecil is sitting at the table and Carlos is making breakfast, he tilts his head when he notices that his face is pretty red and so it’s Cecil’s, but when he asks about it, the scientist turns the TV on with the morning cartoons so he just shrugs it off, grownups are weird.


	12. The One That Got Away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bad news reach Night Vale High, especially a certain laboratory. A couple of MCU references are made and we get a visit from Desert Bluffs, but not exactly from who you think.

  The week started normal enough, normal for Night Vale, that’s it.

   The only remarkable event was that Earl Harlan didn’t show up to school on Monday, and neither did Teddy Williams or Donald Pennebaker. They supposed they were simply exhausted because of their camping trip on the weekend. However, when Cecil passed by the Harlan house to see how his friend was doing, Mrs. Amelie informed him that Earl didn’t come home on early Monday morning like he was supposed to. Then Carlos talked to his friend Maggie, who used to stop by the laboratory sometimes, and who is also Donald’s girlfriend, but the girl confirmed what they already knew, that none of the Boy Scouts had made it home by the time they were supposed to.

     It was only a delay, most people thought, but when this very same Wednesday morning Scoutmaster Ron Veal showed up and asked to speak with the teachers, they just _knew_ something had happened. After speaking with the teachers, everyone was called into the gymnasium that also doubles as an auditorium, because the Scoutmaster needs to make an announcement, so Carlos is there with his friends, standing between Cecil and Dave, who are both visibly tense.

  The purple eyed boy plays with the cuffs of his teal dress shirt, as the Scoutmaster exchanges a few words with Mrs. Ortiz at the side of an improvised stage. He nudges his boyfriend with his shoulder; he smiles encouragingly when he looks at him. A weak smiles creeps into his features and they turn to the stage when the Scoutmaster climbs on top of it. He feels someone grip his hand, it’s Dave, who is giving him a worrisome look, he just nods in reassurance and squeezes his hand back.

“Hello, everyone, some of you may know me, some of you may not, my name is Ron Veal and I’m the Scoutmaster for the Night Vale chapter of the Boy Scouts, I’m afraid I don’t bring good news, kids. I believe most of you are aware of the camping trip the Boy Scout troop is conducting with the older members of the troop, correct?” a collective ‘yes’ answers him and he nods. Carlos feels the grip on his hand tighten and, again, he squeezes back, without looking at his friend this time. “As you all know, the troop haven’t reported themselves since Sunday afternoon” another collective ‘yes’. “I sadly regret to inform all of you that due to the lack of communication, the Boy Scouts: Teddy Williams, Donald Pennebaker and Captain Earl Harlan are officially considered _missing_. That’s all, kiddos, you can go back to class, and I would let you all know if we find any new information”

  Just like that, everyone starts to leave the building to go to class. Carlos, on his part, can’t believe the news, he and Earl aren’t really that close and he has to admit that he was a bit intimidated by the boy, because when he and Cecil started dating, the ginger asked to have a word with him: _“Hurt Cecil and I swear by my Scout Honor that the only science you will be doing is inspecting the worms from six feet under, Marron”_ he said, not in a menacing tone or anything, but the fire in his eyes was enough to make Carlos shrink in himself.

  They may not be the closest, but he likes Earl, aside from the threat, he doesn’t have a reason not to. Also, he is his Cecil’s best friend! And Dave’s boyfriend!

  Talking about them, Dave has released his hand, but when he turns to see him, he is gone in the sea of students leaving for their classes. He frowns, he should go look for him.

“Ca-Carlos…” says a whispering broken voice next to him, and he turns to see his boyfriend, who has tears in the corner of his eyes, but he is not the one talking.

“Yes, Dana?” he says as Cecil hugs him by the waist, hiding his face on the crook of his neck, he hugs him back, rubbing circles on his back. His boyfriend is not crying, but he is _so_ damn close to.

“…Earl… he… he would never give up on trying to come back home, the Scoutmaster has to be wrong, right? Earl is coming back any day now, because people can survive a lot of time in the desert, right, Carlos?”

  Dana is the youngest of the group, but she looks even younger than she actually is, thing they’re used to. Now, however, she looks _so, so_ young…, it reminds Carlos of his own younger sisters. He winces as he thinks of things like _dehydration_ and _exposure_ , but he can’t tell them to Dana, not when she looks so vulnerable, so fragile… so near the breaking point. He can’t tell her the truth.

  So, instead he lies.

“Of course, Dana, Earl is going to be home sooner than you think”.

  She smiles through her tears and Carlos wants to hug and comfort her, but his arms are currently holding Cecil who is sniffling and is just probably hugging him to hide the fact that he is crying. Around them, their friends remain silent, they don’t even attempt to correct Carlos’ lie.

“Oh, baby” Rochelle says, before hugging Dana as tightly as she can against her chest, letting the younger girl cry. “It’s okay, baby, let it out, shhh, it’s okay I got you…” she whispers as she rubs Dana’s back.

“Um, guys?” Nilanjana asks softly, as if she is afraid something will break if she speaks out. “Where’s Dave?”

“He was right here…” the Venezuelan boy says lamely.

  Mrs. Ortiz approaches them, her hands on her hips, but her face is soft.

“Where’s Dave?” she asks, apparently having heard Nilanjana’s question, unlike the other teachers who call them by their last names, she calls them by first name. Nobody answer her and she sighs. “Okay, this is tough and it’s a lot to take in, but you guys need to get to class… I will make you all a couple of hallway passes so you can look for your friend first, okay?” they nod as she takes a small notebook and a pen out of her pocket. “You have fifteen minutes” she says as she starts handing the papers. “Dana, Cecil, you two are not going to class, you are coming with me to the library” she rises her palm when Dana opens her mouth to retort. “ _I said_ you two are coming with me, Dana” she repeats and the young girl nods this time.

  Everyone disperses to look for the missing member of the group, Carlos leaves Cecil in the capable hands of Josie and, just as he is about to leave, he spots Maggie sitting next to the gymnasium door, a pretty girl with strawberry blonde hair and grey eyes is hugging her and trying to comfort her.

“Maggie” says Josie with Cecil and Dana in tow behind her, he is surprised when he sees _anger_ in Cecil’s eyes as he looks at the girls. “Do you want to come with us to the library, dear?” she says softly. She nods her head, her curls bouncing as she does so. She gets up and Dana takes her hand, smiling sadly at her, but Carlos can see that his boyfriend’s eyes hadn’t leave the blonde and his jaw is tense. “Melony… you need to get to class, I will take care of Maggie, okay?” she hands her one of the hallway passes. “Here, give this to the teacher. Come by the library when your classes are done…” the girl nods and leaves. Josie turns to him. “Carlos? Kid, what are you waiting for? Go look for your friend!” he nods and leaves, just as his friend are all shouting what place they’re going to go to check if Dave is there.

  Carlos checks his pass and stops. It says he exempt from his classes for the rest of the day. He then folds the paper neatly and stores it in the back pocket of his jeans. Then, he looks up, determination on his eyes.

    He knows where to go.

* * *

  **Carlos** quickly rushes up the stairs, remembering in the back of his mind how his mother always said that running in the stairs is how most accidents happen, but right now he doesn’t have time for that.

  Night Vale has a small high school, it’s just two buildings: the gymnasium/auditorium and the main building with all the classrooms, the main building has four floors. In the ground floor, there’s the lockers, the laboratory, the administrative office with the school records, the bathrooms and the cafeteria, the second one holds most of the classrooms and another set of bathrooms, in the third one it’s the teachers’ lounge, the principal’s office (closed 24/7, 360 days a year), the library and a couple more classrooms. The fourth floor is in disuse, a girl Mark dated at the beginning of the semester told him that it was because the fourth floor is haunted by the ghost of a former student and that they don’t like to be bothered, so most students avoid going so they don’t bother the spirit because they understand that everybody needs their space, even a creepy ghost that for some reason it’s trapped in the school.

  When Mark found out about that, he did what anyone else would have done. He told Stan, his best friend, who suggested they should check it out, not alone, of course, so they told Dave and Carlos to go with them. Dave wasn’t going to go at first, because you just _don’t shit with the supernatural, dumbass_ , but Carlos thought the idea of a ghost possessing a whole floor was scientifically fascinating and the blue eyed boy had to agree, but only because he wanted to make sure his dumb friends didn’t get themselves killed by a ghost.

  Once upstairs they didn’t find any ghosts, though, only a floor in a deplorable state, and they realized that the city council probably encouraged the ghost rumors just to hide the fact that they were too stingy to actually pay for the renovations of the floor. They entertained themselves by exploring a bit around, discovering that most of the rooms where just unused classrooms that were somehow locked from the inside, so they were inaccessible, then there was the bathrooms… the ladies’ one was as closed as the classrooms, but the boys’ one was open. It was a simple bathroom, like any other, but it had a little _something_ to it, maybe it was the fact that they discovered the place together, or maybe that a thick black liquid came out of the tap when Carlos opened it to see if it worked, but it was unspoken agreement between that it was their little hideout now, since not even teachers go there. The room stinks like smoke, because Stan and Dave tend to smoke cigarettes in there, sometimes forgetting to open the little windows to let the smoke outside. There is also a little loose tile under which Mark has hidden a couple of _inappropriate_ magazines he can’t keep at home and where Carlos keeps his illegal Geology books.

  Carlos stops once he reaches the top of the stairs to catch his breath, he has to admit that his athletic capacities had improved since he got to Night Vale, where he is constantly either running around discovering new amazing scientific mysteries or running away from this week’s catastrophe.

   When he finally gets his breathing under control, he starts heading towards the bathroom, hoping that Dave is there, because the others have already texted him, telling him they looked and they couldn’t find him anywhere. He knows the rest of the team is waiting, so he better hurry.

  The door is locked when he tries to open it, however he can hear some noise inside, like a choked sob, oh god, is Dave crying? He bites his lips as he ponders what to do, it could be that someone else is there, it could not be Dave at all, but what if it’s Dave? Nobody else knows about this place besides the four of them. So, pushing aside the thought of how ridiculous he is going to look if it’s not his friend who is in the other side, he takes a deep breath and tries the door handle again.

“Da-Dave?” he asks doubtfully, the noise stops and he clears his throat. “Dave! It’s me, Carlos!” this time he waits, and, just as he is about to call again, he hears the lock of the door begin undone.

  The door opens.

  Carlos is assaulted by two things, the first is a welcomed relief that makes him sigh as he spots his friend and the second is a bitter wave of cigarette smoke that makes him start to cough. The room is filled to the brim of smoke, because Dave forgot to open the small window. He barely hears the whispered apology his friend gives. Now that the door is open, the smoke is no longer a problem, it dissipates quickly.

  Dave crosses his arms over his chest, cigarette still hanging from his lips, but it’s almost like he is hugging himself. The Venezuelan boy is not really a fan of hugging or touching in general, but when he sees his best friend in _that_ state, with black tears running down his cheeks and the shoulders trembling as his hands turn into fists over his sleeves, he doesn’t think it twice, he enters and wraps his arms around his best friend’s waist, kicking the door closed behind him.

  At first, the Californian boy freezes, but quickly hugs him back, letting his cigarette fall into the wet floor, finally allowing his defense to drop, his sobs turning into wails and he clings tightly to Carlos’ back, hoping his friend won’t let him go, because otherwise he is going to fall apart completely.

* * *

  **Grace** Cruz is used to getting calls from the school. Dave wasn’t the model student he seemed to be now, always either getting late to class or not showing up at all, how many times had the principal called her asking if everything was okay at home? She drums her fingers against the steering wheel of her car as she waits at the school entrance.

  She gets out of the car once she sees Dave coming through the door, accompanied by Mrs. Ortiz. What had happened? The teacher approaching her had called, telling her that she was needed on the school as soon as possible but not specifying why. Had Dave gotten in trouble again? It wasn’t likely, that rebellious phase of his seemed to be over, the fact that he now has _real_ friends who are _good_ influences on him, like that sweet young man named Carlos he always speaks about and that she already met once, is definitely a factor as to why.

  That’s when she notices, that, while the teacher is still advancing in her direction, Dave has stayed by the door, rubbing at his eyes and… is that Carlos with him?

“Mrs. Cruz?” the teacher asks, offering a hand. “Hello, I’m Josie Ortiz, we met on the last PTA meeting”

“Yes, I remember you, Mrs. Ortiz, and please call me Grace, is Dave okay?” she asks, trying to look past her, her tone a bit impatient, but not enough to be considered rude.

“He… had a bad day” she explains, too cryptically for her liking.

“It’s okay” Dave says, behind her. “I will tell her myself, thanks for everything, Josie” he turns to look at his mother. “Hi, mom, I’m ready to go, sorry to make you come all the way to here, I was going to head home myself, but Carlos convinced me to tell Josie first”

“Um, hello, Mrs. Cruz” says the boy in question, she nods in his direction, thankful that there is someone around to knock some sense into her boy.

“Thank you both” she says, “ready to go, baby?” he nods and adjusts the strap of his black leather backpack.

  Carlos quickly hugs Dave tightly as a goodbye, telling him to call him if he needs _anything_ and _please tell me when you get home_. After that they get on the car and drive away.

  He is quiet, looking through the window, but she can notice that the mascara and eyeliner over his eyes are smudged and his eyes are red. Her heart seems to clench in her chest when she realizes he has most likely been crying. She also notices him wearing a spiked black choker, it’s not really that strange, she is used to see him dressed in black clothing and using what people on her time called _punk_ clothes, do they still call them that? The strange thing is that she doesn’t remember him owning such an accessory, she would know, since she is the one who pays for his clothes.

“Can I tell you something?” he asks, not tearing his eyes away from the window.

“Of course, baby”, she agrees.

  The mother had learned to let him take his time and decide if he wants to speak with her, because after a year of trying to force him into conversations he didn’t wanted to be part of, back when she was still struggling with trying to work through the barriers Dave had put around himself, she learned that her son will talk if she just gives him space, because, no matter how hard he tries he just _can’t_ keep things to himself.

“I’m seeing someone”.

“That’s great, what’s their name?” she may have not fully understand that whole _pansexuality_ thing, but it is part of who her son is and if he likes girls and boys then so be it, she is going to be as supportive as humanely possible. Plus, she is glad Dave decided to open up, she would have not known he had a girlfriend when they lived in L.A. if it wasn’t because said girl showed up to her door one day looking for him and more than happily let her know who she was. She was a very sweet girl, but if she hanged out in the same circles Dave did back then… she represses the wince that is about to show on her face as she stops on a red light.

“Earl. His name is Earl Harlan”.

“Is he in your class?”

“Yes, he is also in Boy Scout troop, he is the Captain”.

  The weight of the situation downs on her like if someone has thrown a bucket of ice cold water down her back, the news about the missing Boy Scouts have reached her workplace that very same morning, is her son dating one of those boys? A flash of memory appears on her mind, a memory of going to pick him up from school and seeing him by the door talking with a boy in a tan uniform, a boy with red hair and freckles on his face. A memory of her thinking that her son seemed to be blushing slightly when he got in the car, even though it was hard to tell with his tan skin and the fact that he denied it when she asked, plus he had answered _a friend_ when she inquired who that was.

  They don’t say anything else until they reach the house.

  She is in the kitchen boiling water on the stove to prepare tea for two. He is sitting at the kitchen table, texting away on his phone, presumably to Carlos, when an idea pops into her head. She turns off the stove.

“Hey, baby?” he lifts his head to look at her. “Do you have a picture of your boyfriend?” he looks at his phone, and then at her, nodding. “Can I see?”

And then, Grace is shown a photo, which shows two boys, one smiles, seemingly at the camera, this boy, with red hair and freckles on his face, identical at the one from her memory, seems to be the one who has stolen her son’s heart. In the picture, the boy, _Earl_ , is smiling almost imperceptibly as Dave has his arms around his neck and is kissing him in the cheek, that is sporting a rosy pink. Even in the photo he is wearing his tan and purple uniform.

“Carlos took the picture when we weren’t looking, sort of revenge for when Earl took a picture of him and Cecil one time…” his voice breaks on the last syllable. “I… I want him back… Mom, I want him to come back, I want to… I want to know if he is okay…”

“Shhh” she says once he starts to choke down sobs, quickly pulling a chair next to him and enveloping him in a hug, “shh, I’m here, baby, I’m here…”

  She looks towards the fireplace, where the photo of her beloved late husband rests, next to his medals and his dog tags, the situation may not be the same, but…

 …she doesn’t have the heart to tell his son that his boyfriend is going to come back.

Because the last time someone told her Alvaro was going to come back home, he did not.

* * *

 **Dave** doesn’t show up to school the next two days.

  Friday afternoon, Carlos skips club activities. He knows he shouldn’t do that, but he had already talked with Rochelle and they both agreed that it will be best if he looks for Dave instead. He is not answering their calls, texts and nobody has had the chance to go see him yet, Nilanjana suggested they did, but Carlos was against it, he suspects Mrs. Cruz isn’t aware that her son is skipping school.

  They know everything about the other, even things Carlos won’t even dare tell Cecil. Dave knows about all that bullying he endured back in the _Instituto Católico de Varones San Javier_ , the school he attended in Maracaibo, how the principal, the Mother Superior, a nasty old woman whose name he surprisingly can’t remember anymore, somehow found out he was gay and expelled him (or threatened to, because Rosa Ramirez-Marron was having none of that shit and like hell was that old hag expelling her baby for something outside of his control, and no, you’re not expelling him, I’m the one making him transfer schools because we’re moving to the United States anyways, rot in hell, bitch). In the same way, Carlos knows about the downward spiral his friend went through after his father died, he knows about the drinking, the parties, the wreckage of a life he lead back in California, and how moving to Night Vale was a last attempt on Grace Cruz’s part to gain her son back.

  Again, he knows where to go.

  There’s a spot deep in Mission Grove Park, where Dave confided to him that he usually goes when he is upset.

“You really like playing the mysterious bad boy trope, don’t you?” he asks as he sits next to his friend on the grass.

  They’re surrounded by trees, hidden from anyone’s view. The Venezuelan rests his head on the other boy’s shoulder. The Californian boy chuckles at this, their backs resting against the tree behind them.

“I should have known you will drop by” Carlos giggles at that. “The others aren’t waiting a signal or something to pop out from behind the trees like a gang of serial killers, are they?” Carlos laughs and shakes his head ‘no’. “Good”

  They remain silent for a few moments, Carlos pouts as he thinks how to start the conversation. He doesn’t get to, because his friend talks first.

“You must have a lot of questions, huh?” his friend nods. “Let’s start then, what’s your first question, dear?”

“Does your mom know that you skipped school today?”

  Dave chuckles.

“No, not today and not yesterday either. I left home and was here all morning as a cover”

“Doing what?” the blue eyed boy grabs his backpack, that was rested against his side and then he turns it over, letting all kind of stuff fall. There’s a couple notebooks, a pencil case, half a pack of cigarettes, his cellphone, a couple cans of beer. Carlos frowns at that last item. “Dave…”

“I know, I know, I was totally going to drink myself into stupor, but, you know, it’s not the best idea right now…” he is not going to say that the real reason he didn’t do it was because a certain Boy Scout said _‘I don’t really like when your mouth tastes like you’ve been drinking like a sailor, Dave…’._ He grabs two cans and hands one to his best friend. “I know you don’t drink but have a beer with me? I mean it’s five o’ clock somewhere, right?”

“Time is weird here, so, for all we know, it’s already five o’ clock”

  Carlos doesn’t drink, he doesn’t even like alcohol, but he would do anything for his best friend. Even if that anything means drinking a beer just to make sure his friend doesn’t overdo it. They open their cans. The first sip is bitter and it slightly burns Carlos’ throat, he winces as he brings the can to his lips again, maybe the stinging sensation will pass if he keeps drinking. However, he notices that Dave it’s just looking at his can.

“You okay?”

“Yeah… fucking great. I mean, considering my boyfriend is missing in god knows where and all” he shrugs, making Carlos wince again. He forces himself to take a sip of the can, thinking that drinking with a friend, with his _best friend_ is going to make it better, that he could apply the town motto to stop the pain in his chest _‘Say nothing and drink to forget’_. How can he forget if the memory of a certain boys with freckles and scars doesn’t let him drink? He puts the can down. “I- I can’t…” he whimpers, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I used to be able to _drink to forget_ even before Night Vale, I drank myself stupid when my dad died, why can’t I do it again?” his shoulders start to shake. “ _Why?_ ” he sobs.

“Because… this time you don’t really want to forget” Carlos has no idea where _that_ came from, but he surely means it. Dave looks at him, his blue eyes filling with tears, he sees him open his mouth and then close it again. “Hey, it’s okay, you… you love Earl, it’s okay to miss him, come here” he says pulling Dave closer. “What you need is to cry this out, c’mon, don’t forget that tears produce a protein-based hormone that can act as a natural painkiller” Dave starts to sob quietly against his shoulder, clinging to him like he did at school in the abandoned bathroom right after they had gotten the news. “There, there… I’m here…” he comforts him.

  Dave raises his head to look at him, black mascara and eyeliner diluting with his tears and leaving dark tracks on his cheeks.

“I… I just miss him so much… he called me that afternoon, but I couldn’t respond, I only saw the missing call…wha-what if he was calling to say goodbye?”

“Or maybe to tell you he is okay?” his friend offers in return.

  Dave just keeps crying, and Carlos starts to hum a little song as he rubs the Californian boy’s back, not knowing how else to comfort him.

“I don’t know what I would do without you…” he says after a while.

“You would be crying on your own at home, which I would definitely not allow”

“I’m so glad I’ve you…” he mutters, before pressing a kiss to his friend’s cheek, then rests his head on Carlos’ shoulder. The boy gives a little smile, having become used to that little gesture his friend has. He rises his head to look him in the eye “Hey, you asked if my mom knows I’m here, but do your parents-…?” he stops halfway through the sentence when he looks at Carlos, _really_ looks at him. “Holy shit”.

“Language”.

“Sure thing, Captain America, but what happened here?” he says, ruffling Carlos’ hair.

  Carlos fidgets a bit, the messy mop of shiny black curls in his head is gone, replaced by a stylish new hairstyle, short at the sides, but with the curls at the top long enough that a couple of them still fall over the boy’s face.

  He starts to retell the last two days, hoping that it will somehow distract his blue eyed friend for a while. He tells him how his mother commented that his hair was getting too long and messy, and giving that summer is fast approaching and they are in the desert he should cut it. Dave laughs when Carlos tells him that Rosa Marron does not believe ‘my boyfriend likes it like this’ as a valid excuse to not cut your hair and heighten your chances of heatstroke and ‘exactly _who_ does he think he is _?_ He may be your boyfriend but _I_ am your _mother_ , mister, and my opinion weights more than his’ and let’s not forget ‘he would love you more if you’re not sick due to the heat, trust me, I’m a professional’.

  By the end of the story, they’re both lying in the grass, laughing, no longer hugging but still holding hands.

“I’ve to admit Mama was right, I feel better like this”.

“You look better, man, did you went to a professional or…?”

“Oh, not at all, I just grabbed my Papa’s old trimmer and asked Carla to help me because I didn’t want to mess up, everybody liked it”.

“What did radio boy said?”

“Well… when he saw me he had this horrified expression on his face and I thought he was going to get mad at me, but he just asked me if I liked it… I said yes and then he said he would learn to like it too and what have you. He started caressing my hair and I noticed he, like…, just stopped dead in his tracks and I thought he hated it”, Dave gasps dramatically putting a hand his chest and Carlos smacks him lightly on the shoulder with his free hand, his companion shrieks playfully and gestures for him to go on. “He literally gasped and went ‘ _ohmygod, it’s **fluffy**!’_ and told me he loved it! So yeah, crisis averted”.

“I think is kind of creepy that he likes your hair so much, dude. You gotta be careful, Carlitos, maybe he likes _pulling_ ”.

“Oh my god, keep it PG-Rated for _one_ sentence, I beg of you!”

“Never! Inappropriateness is my specialty!” they laugh, just as Carlos’ phone rings. “You better answer that, may be radio boy wanting to touch your curls a bit more…”

  Carlos rolls his eyes, not even bothering to respond this time.

“Hello?” he waits for an answer. “Oh, hey, Mark!” Dave looks at him when he mentions their friend. “Yup, he is right here with me!” he assures smiling at the blue eyed boy. “Want me to put you on speaker so you and Stan can yell at him? Okay, give me a sec. There, done”.

 _“Dave?”_ sounds Mark’s voice out of the cellphone.

“Stan, Mark!” Dave calls back. “What’s up, my dudes?”  

 _“Please tell me he didn’t just ask_ what’s up? _”_ this time the one talking is Stan, a bit muffled as if away from the receiver. _“Hey, jackass, you wanna know what’s up? I will tell you what’s up, you-…!”_

“The sky!” Carlos interrupts, bursting into a fit of giggles.

  Silence.

 _“You’re lucky you’re too precious to punch, Carlos”_ Mark says. _“You on the other hand, Dave Cru_ z _, oh, hell I’m going to fucking turn you to dust!”_

“Woah! Chill, Thanos!” he teases, making everybody laugh.

 _“Dude, in all seriousness”_ Stan continues. _“You had us really worried with no showing up to school and stuff, we’re your friends, Dave, don’t push us away, man, we really want to be there for you, would you please let us?”_

“Yeah, sure” he shrugs, even though his friends can’t see him, Carlos giggles at this. “If you want to _be_ _there for me_ , you can start by driving in your pretty white Toyota all the way to Mission Grove Park when you guys are done there at school to come pick us up, darling” he says as Carlos starts to gather their stuff.

_“Already beat you to it! We bailed out early, Mrs. Ortiz came into the lab and told us that late classes and extracurricular activities were dismissed for the day, Marky and I decided to go see you two, we can have a boys-only afternoon! Or better yet, let’s have a sleepover; my parents aren’t in town, so they won’t mind!”_

“Yeah, let’s have a sleepover” Dave says sarcastically, the sarcasm is a bit ruined by his smile. “It will be _super_ fun; we will paint our nails and gush about boys”.

“Not gonna lie, sounds like a plan” Carlos says, shrugging as he picks his and Dave’s backpacks.

“Let’s see if we can fix your disastrous nail polish while we are at it” the Californian says, frowning at his friend’s smudged black nails.

Half an hour later, the trunk of Stan’s Toyota is packed with everyone’s backpacks ready for tonight’s sleepover. Rosa and Mauricio had no problem letting Carlos go, same with Grace, who was just glad Dave seemed to be interested in doing something else that wasn’t just lock himself in his room.

 The boys get off the car at an empty gas station at the edge of town, close to Mr. Leroy’s field. Mark assured them that it has the best snacks he has ever had, so they totally should buy things there for their sleepover. Stan also decided to use the opportunity to pump some gas onto the car since he had forgotten to do it recently.

  Dave tells Mark and Carlos to go ahead as he kneels on the asphalt to tie the black shoelaces of his blue converse, as he is doing so, a shadow looms over him and, looking slightly to the side, his eyes meet with a cute pair of low bobby heels and frilly white socks. He looks up, but finds himself unable to see who it is, given that the newcomer has the sun right behind them, shadowing his features.

  He stands up and almost gasps, managing to bite his tongue at the last second when he is able to see her more clearly.

  It’s a girl… and she is gorgeous, with long wavy ginger hair pulled back in a high ponytail and bangs, with freckles dusting her cheeks and the bridge of her nose. Dave feels a painful tug on his chest, yeah, she is gorgeous.

“Hi!” she says cheerfully, smiling at him.

“Um, hi” he answers, quite lamely.

  She is wearing a tan full uniform, the blouse has two buttons undone, not really showing much, but her skirt is a few inches too short-… wait a second, is that a _badge sash_? She is a scout?!

  She smiles like she is reading his mind, because she proceeds to introduce herself.

 “I’m with the Smiling Girl Scouts Troop from Desert Bluffs, we’re selling cookies to raise funds, would you like to buy a box?” she must realize the effect she is having on him, because she bates her eyelashes at him playfully, making the boy notice that she has green eyes… hers don’t have snake pupils like he is used to, but… good god, are those _heart-shaped pupils_? Are they natural? “Please? I only need to sell two more boxes” and she smiles again.

  The light hits her just right, and those eyes… those eyes suddenly resemble a pair of snake-pupiled ones.

“Do you have thin mints?”

“Two boxes!” she states victoriously, smiling again. “Would you like to buy them? I promise I will give you a special discount, handsome” and she winks.

 _‘Hey, handsome Boy Scout, give me a special discount on your popcorn sale!’_ , he had said on the fall some months ago, only to be met by a: _‘How about no, Lab Rat, pay the same as everyone else!’_

“How much?” he asks, trying to push the memory away.

“For you? Fifteen dollars for the two boxes”.

“Deal”.

   Dave retraces back his steps back to the car, where Stan is just finishing. He all but tosses the boxes in the trunk with their backpacks, he will get them later, maybe share it with the boys.

“Hey, who was that girl? A friend of yours?” he asks.

“Girl Scout selling cookies” he shrugs. “Say she only needed to sell two more boxes, so I bought them, not really a big deal”.

“Nice gesture, man, want to go see that our boys don’t get in trouble?”  he offers and they smile as they head into the store together. Dave likes that about Stan, he goes straight to the point, he doesn’t pry and doesn’t asks if it’s not his business, but he still cares.

  They go into the store where Carlos and Mark are busy deciding what kind of candy they want to get.

“What the fuck are those?” Stan asks, adjusting his glasses.

“Lollipops but with bugs inside” Mark shrugs at his best friend. “I was telling Carlos that I’ve never tried the scorpion one and no, buddy, I’m _so_ not going too”.

“It’s completely safe! Look, I asked my Mama last time I bought these and she told that is perfectly safe!”

“Your Mama said?” he asks skeptically.

“She is a _nurse_ , Mark. And she has a degree in Nutrition! She said that as long as they have their stinging barbs removed it’s _fine_ ”.

“While I do value your lovely mother’s opinion, I think I’m going to stick to the margarita and tequila flavored suckers, buddy” he says wincing. “But if you wanna eat bugs, be my guest”.

“Oh, coward” Dave teases, grabbing a couple of the lollipops and placing them into the shopping basket his friend had hanging from the crook of his elbow. “Scorpions, tequila worm and a cricket, let’s see if it’s any good, let’s go get the rest of the stuff, boys” as they start walking to the next aisle, he takes the basket from his friend. “I was thinking we can play some D&D tonight, we haven’t done that in a-…” he stops dead in his tracks when they reach an aisle that has a glass wall, is one of those weird Night Vale glasses that only allows you to see either outside or inside not the other way round depending on the day.

“What the-…?” Stan mutters.

  On the other side of the glass, outside, there’s a vending machine that sells multicolored soda cans, and next to it is that cute Girl Scout again, this time she is not alone, though. There are two boys with her, both have dark skin and are wearing matching yellow t-shirts. One of them has green eyes and long dreadlocks messily put back on a low ponytail while the other has his back facing them, they can make out he has black and white hair and that the back of his t-shirt says _Desert Bluffs Community Radio_.

“Are we done?” asks the boy with dreadlocks.

“Yup! Just sold my last two boxes!” the girl says. “If you guys are done with those sodas, we should go back now”

“Good job, Ellie” says the third boy, “and you’re right, we should head back. Char-Char texted me, says he is finishing with practice, so I want to go there and surprise him!”

  They start to walk away, and the boys go back to their business, until they hear something behind them.

“Over there, Kev!” says the redheaded girl.

“Oops, silly me!”

“Hey, Kevin, why does she get to call you ‘Kev’? You almost murdered me last time I did, dude!”

“Because I have _Childhood Bestie Privileges_ , Dan, my dear” answers the girl.

  The guy, Kevin, approaches the place they were before, squatting down to pick up a plasticized card attached to a little orange rope; he hangs it around his neck. It’s not hard to see that it is pretty similar to those Internship I.D. Dana and Cecil wear when they go to the radio station.

That’s when Carlos notices… this new boy has something akin to golden tattoos in his tanned arms, very similar to burnt scars, a flick of familiarity lights up in him, but, no. Those are different. He can see that they resemble feathers and suns, instead of the almost bruise-like purple eyes and tentacles he is used to see. His eyes are caught by a golden pair, and he feels like that color is _wrong_ , the boy smiles, seemingly at him, as he gets up… and finally turns on his heels and leaves.

“That was weird…” Stan says once the strange trio is gone. “Let get going, I want to be home before dark”.

“Yeah” Mark agrees, “hey, don’t you think that guy in yellow looked a lot like…?”

“No” Carlos interrupts sharply, not looking at him, but guessing how that sentence is going to finish. “Do we need to buy anything else?” he changes the subject.

“Vodka” Mark answers and Carlos frowns. “Some of us do drink, Carlitos, also, can you, like, do me a _little favor_?”, the Venezuelan boy nods. “Great! Flirt with the cashier so he ignores the fact that none of us is twenty-one and therefore cannot buy alcohol, yes?”

“What?? No!”

“Why not?”

“Because I have anxiety… and a boyfriend, mind you”.

“I love how Cecil was a second thought” Dave teases.

“Cecil is never a second thought!”

“Hold… hold the fuck up… _you have anxiety???”_ he asks and Carlos shrinks in himself, he had become really comfortable with talking about the fact that he has anxiety, but it never occurred to him that he didn’t mentioned it to Mark or Stan already, I mean, Dave was the first person he told, and recently Rochelle and Nilanjana had also found out. “Holy shit, I feel like an asshole. Carlos, man, I’m so sorry…” the Venezuelan boy tilts his head as his friend talks, he is used to people telling him he _is just shy_ or that he _will grow out of it_ or even that he _is just making up excuses_ , he has never heard someone _apologize_ to him when they learn about his anxiety.

“Do you even know what you’re apologizing for?” Dave asks, cocking an eyebrow and Carlos does too, because he is wandering the same.

“Well, Dave, just so you know, my dad is a psychologist, I know what anxiety is!” he says glaring at him, and then turns to look at his shorter friend. “I’m sorry for all the times I teased you about not wanting to do certain things like speaking to the class, Carlos”.

“It’s okay, you two didn’t know!”

“Well, while that may be true, it’s no excuse to tease anyways, so, I’m sorry too” Stan adds.

  Carlos smiles at them.

“Thank you, you have no idea how much this means to me”.

“Anything we can do to help?” Marks offers.

“Start with not asking me to flirt with a cashier, because, not only the mere idea of doing that gives me anxiety, but also because I’m a one-man man”.

“Deal, Cruz, you do it!” Stan says and Dave cocks an eyebrow again. “What? It’s not like _I_ can do it, you yourself said once that you can tell I’m straight from a mile away!”

“Very sensible of you to ask a guy to flirt when his boyfriend is missing, nice job, Stan” he answers sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

“Boyfriend? Missing?” Mark spats, then takes a few seconds to process what that means. “You… you and Earl are dating??”

“Holy shit, keep up, honey!” he replies exasperated. “I’ve been dating the Boy Scout for _months_ now” his friends look at each other, and he looks at Carlos, who shrugs. “What?”

“…I’m gonna be honest” Mark says, placing a hand on his chest. “We thought you and Earl were sleeping together, but we didn’t suspect that you guys were dating”.

  Dave opens his mouth to retort, but closes it again. Then he grunts and pinches the bridge of his nose.

“I swear to god-…”

“I mean they aren’t exactly wrong” Carlos says, shrugging and causing his three friends to look at him.

“What the…? Carlos, I haven’t slept with him!” he exclaims scandalized and his friend gives him a look that seems to say _are you sure?_ “Shit, Carlos, they meant sleeping as in _fucking_ him!” now the Venezuelan boy seems to understand because he lets out a tiny gasp and blushes. Mark and Stan laugh.

“…sorry…” he mumbles, looking away.

“Whatever, let’s just get this shit sorted out, and Mark? You are going to be the one flirting with the cashier, and if that doesn’t work, well, Stan you will have to bribe him…”

* * *

 **“Yeah** , yeah, very funny, y’all, very funny” Mark complains from the backseat as his friends laugh.

“ _Must be lonely working here_ ” Dave quotes, imitating the brown-haired boy’s voice. “I can’t fucking believe you said that!”

“Don’t be mad, man” Stan says as he drives, still smiling. “Sometimes ya win, sometimes ya loose, plus, we managed to buy the booze anyways, so it’s no big deal!”

“It totally is!” Mark argues. “He give me his number and said _give it to your cute friend with the sad blue eyes_! Who does that?!”

“Oh my god!” Carlos exclaims before bursting into another fit of laughter.

  Stan and Dave, both having blue eyes, look at each other knowingly… and start laughing as well, making Mark tell them to go fuck themselves as he reaches from behind the seats to turn on the radio as he throws the paper with the number on Dave’s lap. The station is the Night Vale Community Radio one, because they all listen to that one, and a melody is playing, so they assume it’s the weather report.

_“…We are one of a kind, irreplaceable. How did I get so blind and so cynical? If there’s love in this life we’re unstoppable. No, we can’t be defeated…_

_Monday left me broken. Tuesday I was through with hoping. Wednesday my empty arms were open. Thursday, waiting for love. Thanks the stars it’s Friday. I’m burning like a fire gone wild on Saturday, guess I won’t be coming to church on Sunday, I’ll be waiting for love, waiting for love to come around”_

The last notes of the song end and Leonard Burton’s voice fills the car, nobody speaks. Mark and Carlos look at each other, then at Dave, who is now looking out the window, his smile gone. Stan’s eyes are fixed on the road, it’s still a bit until they reach his house. The awkward silence is deafening, but nobody dares to break it.

_I’ll be the spark, if you be the flame. Start a reaction that can’t be contained. Balance you PH by sharing my base. I’ll be your star if you’ll be my space…_

  Mark turns to look at Carlos, Stan does so through the rearview mirror while cocking an eyebrow and Dave turns to look at him over his shoulder. He shrinks in the seat, his cheeks warming up.

_I’ll be your G, if you will be C, or I can be A if you will be T. If there’s a mutation, I’ll fix every base, working as your zinc-finger nuclease…_

  The Venezuelan boy fumbles to take his cellphone out of his pocket as his friends start laughing again, including Dave. Well, a bit of embarrassment is worthy then.

“Hi, Sweetie!” he answers, knowing who is at the other side and making his friends coo. He bates his hand at them. “Yeah, I’m with the guys”.

  Mark starts making kissing sounds, mockingly and Carlos smacks his shoulder.

“ _Ask Radio boy what is he wearing!_ ” Dave suggests in a hiss, making him rolls his eyes as he listens to what his boyfriend has to say.

“Aww, okay, okay, tell our baby that I miss him too…” the laughs stop and Carlos smirks. “Yeah, we still need to come up with a name… no, Ceec, we talked about this, we’re not naming him Carlos Junior, yeah, I know, I know, I will go pick him up tomorrow morning and I will take him home with me, okay, tell him that Papa loves him, and that I love his daddy too, bye!” he giggles and hangs up. Then proceeds to look horrified. “Did… did I just told Cecil that I love him??” nobody answers him. “Guys?”

“You… you did…” Dave mutters. “What the fuck was all that about, Carlos? Baby, names, picking up?? What in the ever loving fuck have you and Radio Boy been doing!?”

“Oh, I did?? Oh no, I gotta call Ceec!” he says, already taking out his phone again.

“Not until you answer Dave” Mark says, placing a hand over his, the one holding the cellphone. “What the fuck, man? Explain yourself…”

“Ah?” he takes in Dave questions. “Oh, um, Ceec and I found a little lizard in Mission Grove Park the other day, it looked lonely so we kind of adopted it?”

“Holy shit, we’re uncles!” Dave proclaims excitedly, fist bumping the air.

   Stan parks in the driveway of the Brubaker Manor, his house, just in the edge of the Vansten Neighbourhood. The house is very modest for a manor, with only two floors, but it’s not less beautiful because of that.

“Have you never told him you love him before?” he asks Carlos, genuinely curious, as they exit the car.

“Yeah, once, when he stayed the night at my house” he is answered with some wolf whistles from Mark and Dave while they get their backpacks and their grocery bags from the car. “Nooo” Carlos complains, cheeks aflame and voice an octave or two higher due to the embarrassment, “we didn’t do _anything_ , I didn’t have-…” it comes out as a stutter, because Cecil is right and he has to start to _at least_ be comfortable with saying out loud words like _sex_ , but even though, for some reason, it’s not as awkward or daunting to use it as it would be in his native language and the fact that he can perfectly imagine himself saying it out loud, he just can’t bring himself to do so. Instead he sighs. “…my parents are _very_ strict, okay? They made us sleep in separate rooms”.

“Lame” Mark teases as Stan opens the front door. “You’re gonna tell me you didn’t at least try to sneak into his room?”

“I did but that’s beside the point-…” he is interrupted with more wolf whistles. “Ugh, get your head out-…!” he stops himself and frowns. “I have an expression for this on the tip of my tongue but I can’t really remember how it goes and I don’t want to mess up, give me a second…, get your head… out of the sewer?”

“It’s _get your head out of the **gutter**_ , but, yeah, close enough, man” Stan informs him. “Still applies, grow up, you two”.

  The boys laugh as the door is pushed open, revealing the marble lined interior. The kitchen is pristine as they leave the bags on the countertop.

“Question” Dave says, leaving his backpack next to Mark’s in the carpeted floor of their friend’s bedroom. “Why do you have a room for yourself while your little sisters share?” it was something he wondered every time he visited his friend, he is an only child, but he kind of understood that siblings tended to prefer separate rooms, as is not like Stan’s parents couldn’t afford it, if the 44” plasma in the room is any indication.

“Mackenzie and Kayla don’t like the whole sleeping alone thing, and when there’s a thunderstorm or something like that, they cross the hallway and come to sleep with me” the blond shrugs as he turns on the Play Station and everybody sits around him. “Talking about my lovely baby sisters, you, Dave Cruz are not allowed to tell Mackenzie you like girls, she asked me if you had a girlfriend and I may or may not have told her you’re gay”.

“Sister stealer” Carlos says, somehow bitterly as he crosses his arms, but they can see by the smile he is having trouble hiding that he is clearly joking.

“Not my fucking fault Carla has freaking good taste, man, I’m a goddamn snack” that makes everyone laugh. “Not, but seriously, I would never and you know it, because two things, for one, your sisters are _fifteen_ and _twelve_ ” he says this looking at Carlos, then turns to Stan “and yours are _eight_ and _eleven,_ for fuck’s sake and second, right now I only care that the Boy Scout comes back home safe and sound…”.

  The boys go to sleep very late that night, around three a.m. after playing countless matches of Call Of Duty on the Play Station and a couple hours toying with their D&D campaign, they had Big Rico’s pizza for dinner and ice cream for dessert. They teased Carlos when he called Cecil to tell him goodnight and Mark when he revealed that the _girl_ he left the Vansten party with was actually a very cute and very male theater major from the Night Vale Community College.

  The first one to wake up the next morning is Dave and, since the sun has not even started to rise yet, he is staring at the weird lights that pass overhead every night without fail with his arms propped in the windowsill. The boy is grateful his friends didn’t teased him about his t-shirt, which is lavender in color and with the drawing of a Fleur de Lis that says _Night Vale Boy Scouts_ at the top, clearly letting everyone know who does it belong to. He is shaken out of his thoughts of what could be causing the lights when Mark sits next to him, clad in his stripped pajama bottoms and worn white and red tank top.

“Up so soon?” he asks, getting a uncompromising ‘uh-huh’ in agreement. “Hey, look, I know that we two are not as close you’re to Carlos or I am to Stan, but… we’re still friends, dude, we can talk about stuff, y’know?”

“I do know”, he also knows that they will never be as close as they are with their other friends. He knows Mark and Stan met back in their hometown of Dallas in Texas when they were around ten and have been inseparable ever since, bonding over mutual things in their lives. Just like he and Carlos bonded over their shared Latin American heritage, the fact that them both didn’t had the best experiences in school and, of course, the fact that they’re the most flamboyant boys in sight as long as Cecil is not in the room to outshine them. “What brought this on? You feel like I don’t trust you, man?”

“It’s just, I guess I was surprised at finding out you are dating Earl or that Carlos has anxiety, it kinda makes me feel like there’s _us_ , as in _Stan and me_ , and then there’s _you_ , Carlos and you both, I mean”.

“It’s not that we don’t trust you, it’s just… look, it’s not like everyone knows about me and Earl, it’s not a big secret either, but the only one who I told is Carlos, I guess Dana and Cecil know too, not because I told them, but because Earl did. And Carlos is…, well, you know how insecure he is, that’s why he didn’t tell you about his anxiety until now. Plus, it’s not like I knew your Daddy is a psychologist or that you have been _experimenting_ , didn’t know you were interested in playing for my team too, there’s nothing wrong with it, of course, it’s just that going to houses of guys you don’t know it’s not the wisest of decisions, even if the guy is cute”.

“I know, I know, but we, uh, y’know I didn’t went to his house, he… well, um, you don’t need to know all the details”.

“You’re right, I don’t. So, let’s change the subject, your Dad is a psychologist, how come I have never seen a psychology office in Night Vale?”

“He is a doctor _and_ a psychologist but he… um, he is in the army, he is deployed in the Middle East right now” he shifts in his place, as if deciding to continue or not, “…I saw your dog tags last night, are they your dad’s? My dad has a spare set; I sometimes use them when I miss him…”

“I have my old man’s dog tags, but Mom doesn’t let me take them out of the house, these are the Boy Scout’s” he explains, taking them out of his clothes, his friend take one delicately between his thumb and forefinger to read it, before letting it fall against Dave’s chest again. “He left them with me that afternoon before he left, told me he will get them back when he does”, the boy coughs, to hide the knot on his throat. “My dad was KIA. Afghanistan. A few years ago”, it’s all said in a rush, but Mark nods, understanding, even though he is curious about the ownership of the small plaques. “My Dad was a marine, and yours is… in the Army, you said?” Mark nods. “Huh, is that why you live alone?”

“Yeah” it’s no secret to anyone that Mark’s mom left him and his dad when he was a baby, so he basically lives alone while his father is deployed. “The only reason I moved to Night Vale was because he wants me close to my aunt and uncle in case… in case something happens…” he explains and Dave nods, another thing that isn’t a secret is the fact that Mark and Louisa are cousins, he is the one who actually introduced her to Stan even. “Of all the things we could bond over, I never thought it would be about us both begin military brats”.

“What’s a military brat?” Carlos asks, still somewhat sleepy as he sits next to them, lying to rest his head on Dave’s lap.

“Someone whose parents are in active service or military duty, Carlos” Stan explains to him, sitting next to Mark, still wrapped in the blanket, he opens a bit of it to Mark who accepts it and wraps it around his shoulder. “Wasn’t your dad in the military too back in Venezuela?”

“ _Policía regional de Estado Zulia”_ he corrects with a shrug, “County Deputy, if you will, but close enough. Um, I though wearing those is illegal if you’re not a soldier?”

“Only if the catch you” Mark answers him, smiling smugly.

“Yeah, that sums it up” Dave agrees uncompromisingly, “it’s five a.m., but the sun is already rising, so, breakfast? I will prepare the waffles if you guys prepare the coffee and set the table”.

  A bit later, they are already eating when Mark brings up a certain topic of discussion, interrupting somehow the chat about prom.

“Talking about school events, has anybody else noticed those weird _#KillYourDouble_ posters in the hallways lately?”

“Oh, yes! I asked Ceec about it yesterday and he told me that it’s an annual event, last year students of our school play a game against the last year students of the Desert Bluffs Private Institute”.

“Huh, weird indeed, dudes” Dave comments absentmindedly before drinking some more orange juice. “I guess we will be playing then, what are we playing again?” Carlos shrugs in his direction.

“Do you guys think it’s, like, a literal double thing?!”

“Well, yeah, there’s an evil you running around in Desert Bluffs, Mark” Stan teases at his excited friend, who frowns at him.

“Can’t we ask your cousin in Desert Bluffs, Carlos?” Dave asks, and Carlos looks at him he doesn’t what he is talking about, and he truly does not. “Your cousin Diego? Didn’t you say he lives there?”

“Oh! Nope, he is in Caracas, but he is going to come visit for my birthday. What I did say was that my Tío Antonio, who is an investor, said that there are some good opportunities to invest in a small company there in the Bluffs, the company is called Strex Corp and since the situation in Venezuela right now is…um, _not ideal_ , he is thinking of moving the whole family there. He still has to check a couple things, but what Marks brings up is actually a very interesting idea, literal doubles of us? That would be so scientifically fascinating! Dare to tell me it wouldn’t be!”

“Carlos…” Stan starts, before rolling his eyes at Carlos expression’s that, to be honest, resembles the one of a kicked puppy. “Do you really want to meet Evil Carlos if there’s one?” the Venezuelan boy nods enthusiastically. “Oh, come on, guys, the idea of literal doubles, is _ridiculous_ , at best”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Weather in this chapter is Waiting for Love by Avicii (truly a beautiful song) and Carlos’ ringtone for Cecil is, of course, The Science Love Song by ASAPscience.


	13. From France, With Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charles, age seventeen, has lived all his life in Toulouse, France. Now, on his last year of high school, his father has decided to try luck in a small desert community in the southwest of the U.S.…

  Charles is a simple kid, or at least he likes to think he is. There wasn’t much he wanted in life, he wanted to go to college, and maybe a boyfriend or girlfriend in the meantime, some friends will be nice too.

He had been living happily in Toulouse with his family, thinking of attending University in Paris, but then his father decided on a whim to move the whole family to the United States, which was exciting yes, but it had him reevaluating his plans. This country seemed… interesting. The family had spent two weeks in Dallas, Texas, which was nice, and then took route to a little desert community in the southwest that wasn’t even in the map; a small town by the name of _Desert Bluffs_.

It had to be, theologically speaking, the most interesting community he had ever seen.

  He had been relieved when he found out that his interest in religion could be applied to a field of study, he had a hard time telling it to his parents, but he figured they wouldn’t mind, given that his father is a successful artist and his mother is a _doctor_ of sorts, she specializes in alternative medicine. They wouldn’t mind he that he wants to follow their footsteps and choose an unusual career path. His mother was even delighted to know he is aiming to be a college professor. He is lucky, he has a very accepting family.

  He walks down the aisle of the Sunflower Farmers Market with his younger brother, to whom he promised to take to the store to get candy. He smiles fondly when he sees him, standing on his tip-toes trying to reach a box on a tall shelf. Charles himself is not very tall, but the one his brother wants is within reach.

“This one, Fabien?” he asks, grabbing the chocolate box.

“Yes, that one, Charles!” it’s the excited answer he gets. “That one!”

  He checks the labels, just to make sure it’s _actually chocolate_ , without any strange additions. Fabien had cried the last time one of his sisters bought him a popcorn bag and he found a tooth inside… but this one seemed fine.

  Once that is paid for, they walk back home, Charles’ father has mentioned that his son could use a car now that he is almost eighteen, but he dismissed his concern. He is just fine with walking to school from home and vice versa. It really has nothing to do with the fact that his boyfriend Kevin has a shiny yellow Camaro with a very spacious backseat, really, nothing at all.

  That’s another thing that is different now that he lives in the Bluffs, he had known he is bisexual for a while now, he hadn’t planned on telling his parents, or _anyone_ for that matter, he figured he was going to end up with a woman anyways, or so he thought.

  Because then he moved and he met Kevin.

  The day they met was their first day of class, and, to Charles, it was like the sun had gone down and decided to hide behind Kevin’s smile. He had play-flirted with him the whole day and, given that the boy with the golden eyes and the weird burnt marks on his arms seemed to like his advances, he scribbled his cell phone number on his arm with an orange sharpie.

  Telling his parents that _surprise,_ _I’m bisexual and dating a boy I met at school, but hey, what are we having for dinner?_ proved to be a challenge, but Charles wasn’t one to turn down a challenge, plus, his parents again were completely accepting and even asking questions about this boyfriend of his and asking him to bring him for dinner. His father seemed to think _bisexual_ was just a fancy word for _gay_ , but, hey, at least he liked Kevin, despite his name.

  Once they reach home, Fabien runs off to show his mother the candy his older brother bought him and Charles climbs the stairs to go to his room, he needs to meet up with his friends in an hour, and he still hasn’t showered after practice with the soccer team. Once upstairs, his sisters Charlotte and Carole stop him and he can’t help but smile at the delighted squeaks they make when he hands them the candy he bought for them, which he also checked, the scream Charlotte let out that time when she found an eyeball in her Girl Scout cookies could probably be heard all the way to Red Mesa…

  He exits through the backdoor and goes to the backyard once he’s done, where the family has a small winter house where his mother grows her plants for the medicines she prepares in her clinic and, next to it, there’s a big wooden shed that serves as Charles’ father atelier. He knocks, hoping his father is going to hear it over the sound of the loud guitar music he has playing.

“Come in!” it’s the answer he gets as the music is turned down in volume.

  The boy opens the door and is welcomed by the smell of acrylic and rust, some of his father’s sculptures and canvas are lying around against the walls and his father himself is working over a really big canvas with what Charles can only hope is a very weird burgundy paint mixed with something that smells like rust. His father, Maurice, smiles at him.

“What’s up, champ?”

“Just wanted to say hi before I go out” he shrugs, taking a chocolate from out of his pocket to hand it to him. “I bought you this when I went out with Fabi”.

“Thanks, son” he says, accepting it and placing it next to his brushes. “Are you going to see your boyfriend?” Charles nods. “Okay, if he tries anything funny that you don’t like just let me know and I will have a word with him”.

“PAPA!”

“I’m joking, champ, I’m joking, when are you inviting him for dinner again?”

“Goodbye, Papa!” Charles exclaims, exiting the atelier, making his father laugh.

“Say goodbye to your mother before you leave!”

  Maurice shakes his head once the door is closed, turning up the music again and going back to his canvas, he has a deadline to fulfill and this painting won’t paint itself.

  His next stop is the kitchen, where he serves himself a glass of orange juice and takes one of the sunflower seed muffins Charlotte prepared that very same morning. He is not sure how he feels about his younger sister wanting to be a homemaker, but whatever, these muffins, just like all the treats she prepares, are _damn_ good.

“Charles Alexander Chastain! Where do you think you’re going dressed like _that_?” Rose, his mother, asks, hands on her hips as she stares at the crop top and skinny jeans her son is wearing. He is also wearing what his sister Carole calls his _I’ve-a-date-with-Kevin_ necklace, he has a lot of jewelry that he likes to wear, including several necklaces with various religious insignia, but the one he is wearing right now is a delicate golden chain with a white and very real tooth that Kevin gifted him for their first month anniversary. He prefers not to think from where the tooth came from.

“To see Kevin and then to a sleepover at Scott’s?” he offers. “I can put on a jacket if you like…?”

“I pretty much would like that, please and thank you! Oh, and are you going to see Kevin? Would you say hi to him for me? I haven’t seen him in a while, why haven’t you invited him for dinner again? He seemed to like the _foie du gras_ I made; I could make some more if you invite him again”.

“I’m starting to believe you like my boyfriend more than you like me, Mama!” he chides, trying to hide his smile, before kissing her cheek and grabbing a jacket from the cloth hanger by the door.

  Just as he is closing the front door behind him, backpack hanging from one shoulder, he sees a bright yellow Camaro with two black lines in the hood pulling up on the street, and he smiles. The boy rushes to get into passenger seat, enthusiastically kissing the golden-eyed boy that drives in the cheek.

“Hey, sunshine, how’s my favorite soccer player?” Kevin greets him, returning the kiss.

“Awesome now that I saw my favorite radio intern, what about you, _chérie_?”

“I’m doing great, thank you!” he says as he starts the car. “So, at what time do you have to be at Scott’s place?”

“I can be fashionably late, gives us time to do _whatever you want_ ”.

“Whatever _I_ want? My, my, dear Charles, are you sure?”

“Yeah” he says playfully walking his fingers up Kevin’s arm as he stops on a red light. “Maybe _the thing_ we talked about the other day, hm? he purrs and he could practically feel Kevin shivering under his fingertips. “Remember that?” his boyfriend nods. “I’m glad you do” he leans down to whisper in his ear, “I’m glad you do, ‘cause the answer is _yes_ , Kevin” he breaks away as the light turns to green and they keep going.

“You… you mean it, Char-Char?!”                                                                                                 

  Charles knows that their friends think that all they do is make out in the backseat of Kevin’s car and flirt in public where everyone can hear them, while they indeed _do_ those things that’s it’s not definitely all they do.

  And Kevin’s body, all gold burnt marks and dark patches is not all that Charles likes about him. Charles loves hearing Kevin laugh, and the spark that lights up in his golden eyes when something surprises him or makes him happy, he loves to see the blush on Kevin’s face, a blush that has to be very heavy for it to show on his dark skin. He loves the way he frowns when he is extremely concentrated on something. He loves the way his lips twitch into nervous smiles or how he bites them when he is anxious or eager. He loves how his hands tremble with enthusiasm every time they touch or kiss.  He loves being the one who causes most of those reactions.

  Charles just knows that he is in love with Kevin since the day they met.

“That’s right, _chérie_!” he says as if he was announcing a big event of sorts. “The _special date_ we talked about it’s today!” he can’t help but smirk proudly at the way Kevin giggles. “Oh hey, turn right on the next street”.

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll see”.

  They happened to be strolling around town, hand in hand when he commented they haven’t been in a proper date since the first one they had, where Charles took Kevin to a fancy restaurant in town called _Vermillion_ , that’s when they passed by the cinema theater and noticed that they were showing one of the golden eyed boy’s favorite movies, he didn’t say anything, but Charles saw how he looked at the advertising posters and he just knew what did he wanted to surprise Kevin with on their next date.

  They park close to the movie theater and he is delighted when he realizes that his boyfriend still has no clue what they’re going to do. They get out of the car and start to walk; he is quick to wrap an arm around his boyfriend’s waist.

“You know, I have never seen _Titanic_ , I hope you’re in the mood for a romantic movie” Kevin stops and stares at him, tilting his head in confusion.

“I thought the movie theater announced they are sold out on all kinds of tickets for the rest of the month?” he asks, “something about a shortage of paper and cardboard?”

“Oh! You mean, like _these_ tickets?” a smile creeps into his face at the way Kevin’s whole face lights up once he gets the two passes he bought beforehand from the inner pocket of his jacket. His boyfriend kisses him on the lips after squealing in glee.

* * *

 **This** has to be the most boring movie he has ever seen, but he can’t really complain since Kevin seems to be enjoying himself. He is sniffling at the _“I will never let you go, Jack, I will never let go_ ” scene and is tightly clutching his hand over the arm rest. Charles can’t help but let out a relieved sigh when Leonardo DiCaprio finally freezes to his death and drowns, because it means it’s almost over. His boyfriend chokes down a sob, so he brings their joined hands to his lips and kisses his knuckles; Kevin sniffles again but then sighs and relaxes into his touch.

The credits finally roll in and they exit the dark room, with him holding onto Kevin’s arm, whose eyes are still slightly red due to the crying.

“ _Phew!_ That was such a good movie!” he smiles down at his boyfriend, his smile somewhat apologetic. “I know this had a lot less explosions, bullets and death than the movies you like, but thanks for watching it with me, Char-Char!”

“Anything to see that pretty smile of yours, _mon amour_ , so, dinner?”

  Once they’re out of the fast food restaurant they went to and back in the car, Charles notices that Kevin looks a little _uneasy_. Well, he did tell him that those pork ribs he ordered didn’t look really cooked, didn’t he?

“Can we talk about something?” Kevin asks his golden eyes soft and dull as he drums his fingers on the steering wheel.

“Of course, _amour_ , what is it?”

“My siblings aren’t going to be home next weekend… I was… I was wondering if you would like to spend the night?”

“Sure, I will have to see how do I ask my parents about it but by now I’m pretty sure they won’t have a problem” he frowns in confusion, not really understanding what is his boyfriend so nervous about, why would he be? He just asked him to stay the night, which he hadn’t ask in a while since… oh, _oh…_ “I see, is this because of what your brother said last time?” he asks as softly as he can manage and Kevin shrinks into himself, like a little kid that had been caught doing something naughty. “Yeah, we can do that, do you want to watch a movie, maybe a series, oh! I heard about this really cool one that-…!”

“Charles” Kevin interrupts, “you… you aren’t mad at me? Or disappointed?”

“Kevi, _chérie_ , baby, I could never be disappointed of you, we have already talked about this, you can’t control what comes out your brother’s mouth. Plus, what kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn’t want to spend time with you?” he frowns, Kevin is very cautious when it comes to his family, Charles knows he has a good relationship with his sister Amy but his brother Kelvin is a completely different story. “Kevin, has Kelvin ever made you feel bad for wanting to have a boyfriend or a girlfriend over for the night before?” Kevin shrugs. “Oh, _Mon petit Coeur_ ” he says, hugging him as Kevin rests his forehead in the crook of his neck. “I would never be bothered or angry at anything your asshole of a brother says, okay?” he presses a kiss to his hair. “ _Never_ ” he thinks for a moment. “Okay, maybe not _anything_ , if I hear him mispronounce French words in front of me on purpose one more fucking time I will have to deck him”.

Kevin doesn’t laugh, but he can see a small twitch in the corner of his mouth.

“Thanks, Charles”.

“Don’t thank me” he chides. “I’m just a decent human being, I guess”.

“You’re wonderful, that’s what you’re” he says, not looking at him as he starts the car.

“So are you, _amour,_ so, what’s the plan for the next weekend, then?”

“I was hoping you could maybe come over and I could cook you dinner? Maybe even some chocolate cake for dessert?” Charles smiles and nods, which manages to bring back Kevin’s enthusiasm, “we watched a movie that I liked, why don’t you pick the next one, dear? It can have as many guns and bad guys as you want” they laugh and the sound of Kevin’s laughter is a delight to the French boy.

“ _Je t’aime,_ Kevin”.

“I love you too, Charles”.

   Once Kevin drops him off in front of Scott’s house, they part with a chaste kiss on the lips and a promise to see each other on Monday as a goodbye. Charles stays on the sidewalk until the yellow Camaro disappears on a corner; he sighs and knocks on the front door of the house.

“Look who decided to show up!” Scott teases him with a toothy grin as he opens the door for him and rushes him inside. “Any new hickies you would like to show off, Chastain?”

“Eat dirt” he teases back, shoving his shoulder with his own playfully. “Hey, Matt!” he calls as he enters the living room, dropping his backpack on the couch and then sitting himself down into the carpeted floor next to his friend, he claps his shoulder as a greeting and smiles.

“Hey, man, thought you were going to miss the party!”

  Scott snorts in agreement as he passes a cold beer can to Charles, who accepts it eagerly, how did they manage to buy alcohol he has no idea, but he won’t complain either.

“There’s not a party going on until I walk in!” then, noticing someone is missing, he frowns and asks, “where’s David? Don’t tell me he stayed home!”

“I’m here” says the boy in question, entering the room and taking another can as he sits next to him. “I was in the phone with Ellie”.

“Is she okay?” he asks, worried about his friend.

“Yeah, she just had a busy day and we couldn’t talk until now, it’s cookie selling season and she is elbows deep in the whole thing, she really wants to surpass last year’s sale. I told her to get some sleep and, you know, bring it down a notch or two, the cookies and the clients are going to still be there in the morning and all” Charles nods, in his life he had never met someone as disciplined and as determined as Eleanor Harris. “How was your date with Kevin?”

“Oh, fine” he shrugs. “Told him I’ve never seen _Titanic_ and it’s one of his favorite movies, so we went and watched it, then we stopped for a bite to eat”.

“Well, what do you know? There _is_ a heart in that tiny horny body of yours”.

“Fuck you, Scott. And the _tiny_ comment was totally uncalled for! I may not be as tall as you, but tiny is something I’m not either!”

“In other news” Matt interrupts, before Scott and Charles can jump at each other’s throats, “has anybody else noticed those weird _#KillYourDouble_ posters in the hallways lately?”

“Yeah! I asked Kev about it yesterday and he told me that it’s an annual event, last year students of our school play a game against the last year students of the Night Vale Public High School”.

“Huh, weird indeed, guys” David comments absentmindedly before drinking some more beer. “I guess we will be playing then, what are we playing again?” Charles shrugs in his direction.

“Do you guys think it’s, like, a literal double thing?!”

“Well, yeah, there’s an evil you running around in Night Vale, Matt” Scott teases at his excited friend, who frowns at him. “C’mon guys, that’s a ridiculous idea!” he grabs his laptop, that was sitting on and open in the coffee table. “Tell you what, our school has a website so the Night Vale High School probably has one too…” the three other boys stare at him as he finds his way around the web. “Well…”

“What? What did you find?” Matt eagerly asks.

“Not much, the internet is shitty right now, but, uh, they don’t have a soccer team in Night Vale, here’s something weird, though. They have a _Science Club_ , the kicker? It was founded the same day we started with the soccer team”.

“Could be a coincidence” David says, “a lot of clubs and teams start at the beginning of the year”.

“The school website has our names, does this one have any?”

“Ah, good call, Charles! Let me check real quick” a bit more of typing and scrolling and he lets out a triumphant “aha!”

“Well?” David asks.

“Well… yeah, this is weird, there are no pictures, but the president of the science club is a guy named Carlos Marron and the vice-president a guy named Dave Cruz, there’s also a list of the members: Mark, Stan, Louisa, Nilanjana and Rochelle, is a small club that started this year, none of their names show up on previous updates before the opening so I guess they’re all new students”.

“Dude, you mean to tell me that this science club has the exact number of members as the soccer and cheerleading team combined _and_ they also started in that school _this_ year like we did here?” Charles says, an uneasy feeling creeping up in his chest, before he shakes his head. “You know what? Let’s drop this, let’s talk about something else”.

“Don’t tell me you’re scared!”

“Now it’s not the time for teasing, Matt!” David chides. “Charles is right; this is _way_ too weird, let’s drop it. Why don’t we talk about that party that’s going to happen in Red Mesa in a couple weeks?”

“Yeah” Scott agrees closing his laptop and leaving it in the coffee table again. “I’m totally going, what about you, guys?”

* * *

  **That** Monday, Charles accompanies David as he does a quick stop before classes to buy a box of Girl Scouts cookies at the stand Eleanor and her fellow troop mates had set next to the school’s entrance. Eleanor smiles at them as she hands him the cookie box.

“Thanks, handsome” she says, earning her a wolf whistle from one of the girls next to her. “Thea Willows, don’t you have cookies to sell?!” the girl squeals and promptly runs away with a few boxes under her arm.

“I will help her, Captain!” the other girl rushes to say, picking some more boxes and rushing behind her friend.

“Thanks, Donna” she says, even though the other girl is already gone.

“I thought you had already sold all of your cookies, Ellie” Charles comments.

“Yeah, but the girls didn’t and I want to help them”, she explains shrugging.

“You know you don’t have to pick up their slack, right, Ellie?”

“I know, David-baby, but still, also thanks for always buying me cookies, you really don´t have to buy me a box every morning”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, babe; I just really have a sweet tooth in the mornings! Isn’t that right, Charles?”

“Yeah, we’re growing boys, babe, and your cookies are the best!”

  Eleanor smiles and blushes, clearly flattered at the praise, so they promise to see each other in class, and then the boys make their way to the football field. Practice is only in the afternoons, but the soccer and cheerleading team (that literally has only tree members) tend to meet there in the mornings.

“Good morning!” Rachel calls once they spot them approaching the group.

  Everybody is already there and they turn to see them. The girls and Rachel are, despite the early hour, already wearing their yellow and white cheerleading uniforms and the boys have their yellow jackets on. Scott, who has an arm wrapped around his girlfriend Luan’s shoulders, quickly fills them in on the topic of discussion: the _#KillYourDouble_ event.

“Again with that?” Charles can’t help but complain.

“Are you telling me you aren’t excited about this?” Khushi says, practically bouncing in her place, her curls following the movement.

“Do you want to meet Evil Khushi if there’s one, girl?” he retorts, making her laugh.

“I totally do and you know it! C’mon, Charles! Where’s your sense of adventure?”

“I agree with her, grow a backbone, Chastain” Rachel laughs as they straighten their cheerleader uniform and sit next to Khushi. “What is the probability of it being a literal thing?”

“I’ve no idea; do I look like a scientist to you, honey?”

“Not with that crop-top” Matt comments. “Also, haven’t the coach told you to stop wearing that, Charles?”

“He is not my father, he can’t tell me what to do. What is he going to do if I disobey anyways? It’s not like he can’t kick me out of the team, because, one, I’m the goddamn captain, two, my grades are fine and none of what I’m wearing is against the school dress code, and three, there’s only five people in this team, if he kicks me out then we don’t have a team anymore, I’m surprised they allowed us to have a team at all. In other words, the coach can suck it” he finalizes.

“Hi, you beautiful happy people!” calls someone from afar. Charles turns and instantly smiles, recognizing his boyfriend’s cheerful voice. Kevin is smiling as he comes their way, with Dan close behind him. Unlike him, Kevin is not on either of the teams, but he likes to drop by to say hi in the mornings. He gives Charles a sweet, chaste kiss as a greeting. “What’s up?”

“Oh, we were talking about the _#KillYourDouble_ event before Charles and _Cookie Monster_ over there interrupted us” Scott explains, gesturing at David who, during this whole conversation has been eating some of the cookies he had bought from his girlfriend’s stand, he glares at him. “Oh, don’t look at me like that, it’s cute that you want to get into Eleanor’s good graces and gain her affection by buying her cookies, but do you know what’s not cute? Diabetes, David, and that’s exactly what you will get if you keep buying a cookie box of do-si-dos _every goddamn morning_ , plus, you have to watch how you eat, dude, we already have the coach breathing down our necks because Charles here likes to dress like he is possessed by David Tennant playing the gay snake demon, we don’t need him angry because you gained a few pounds”.

“Quoting Charles, _the coach can suck it_ , it’s not like he does much for us, he just tells us to run around the field and do exercises and he never stays for more than half an hour, we do all the work ourselves!”

“I mean, true, but-…”

“But nothing, Scott, you know we’re right” Charles interrupts. “Also why would David have to get into his own girlfriend’s good graces, did you fucked up with her and nobody told me or…?”

“Hold… hold the fuck up…, girlfriend?” Matt blurts. “I just thought you had a crush on her and that’s why you were always buying her cookies”.

“Same” Scott agrees.

“We all thought that” Luan says, biting her lips to keep from smiling.

“Okay, first of all, I don’t _have a crush_ on her, I love that girl, and second, keep up, dude, I’ve been dating her for months! Just so you know, I would buy all the cookie boxes she has, anything to see that pretty smile that lights up her face and-… why is everybody smiling at me like that? Oh, _God,_ she is right behind me isn’t she?”

“David-baby?” she asks, but he groans and cover his face. She wraps her arms around his waist and hugs him from behind, resting her freckled cheek in between his shoulder blades. “Aww, you’re so sweet!”

“C’mon, man! Give your girl a kiss!” Charles cheers on.

“Not now, I’m embarrassed”.

* * *

 **After** classes, there’s no practice, because the coach is absent, which surprises no one, to be honest. Charles is planning to go straight home; he did promise Fabien they would play together today, after all. David and he are walking together through the hallway, just chatting, when his friends stops.

“Hey, who is that with Kevin?”

  Charles is not the jealous type, never has been, because he just needs a couple seconds to remind himself that not everybody looks at Kevin like he does (why don’t they? He is amazing) and that Kevin is _his_ and his alone, just like Charles is _Kevin’s_ and Kevin’s alone. So, David’s comment only serves to spark curiosity at the guy walking next to his boyfriend, oh, look, there’s also a girl there. The guy has tanned skin and short black hair, he is taller than Charles, but, hey, most people are. The girl shares some resemblance to the boy, so he assumes they’re related. The three of them are laughing.

“What’s up with the staring, man?” his friend questions, a bit taken aback by his attitude, “jealous much?”

“No” Charles chuckles before pointing at the newcomer with his chin and continuing, “he is straight”.

“How do you know?”

“I just do”.

David cocks an eyebrow at him, but shrugs it off. 

“Should we go say hi?”

“Indeed we do”, he answers, smiling slightly, but then his friend’s cell phone rings, seems like just received a text message.

“Actually, you know what? I think I will pass, I’ve to go see Ellie, text you later”.

“Sure thing, man, say hi to your girl for me” he says, despite having seen the redheaded girl himself not five minutes ago in class, he waves at his departing friend and proceeds to call Kevin’s name. “Hey, _gorgeous_!”, well maybe not his _actual name_ , but hey, it’s pretty close enough.

  The golden eyed boy turns the second he hears his boyfriend’s voice, he gasps and beams like it’s the first time he has ever seen him, just like he always does when he catches Charles smiling and walking towards him.  He spares a glance at his companions and confusion dances in his features when he notices their surprised stares, well, his Char-Char is quite the sight indeed!

“Hi, Char-Char!” he greets enthusiastically once he reaches the group and his boyfriend snakes an arm around his waist. “Let me introduce y’all! These are Diego and his sister Alma, they’re new in town! Diego, Alma, this is my boyfriend Charles!”

“Are you guys going to be in our class?” he asks politely after briefly nodding in their direction when they voice their _nice to meet yous_.

“I don’t think so” Diego answers with an apologetic smile. “I’m graduating this year and I’m probably going off to college in New York, our visit today it’s mostly for her” he explains as he gestures towards his sister who smiles.

“That’s right, I’m sixteen, so two more years still, but it depends, our father has not decided if we’re moving here or not”.

“Oh! That’s too bad! We would have loved you here in the Bluffs!” Kevin says, “we don’t get many new residents, we’re a very far away town!”

“So we have been told” Diego nods. “I have never heard about this place before, but, uh, our cousins actually live close by, at the other side of Route 800, in Night Vale”, Charles pays a bit more of attention there, he himself doesn’t have cousins, that’s actually the reason why he has three siblings, both of his parents are only-children, so they wanted a big family and for him to have siblings to play with as he grew up.

“Oh, delightful! I’ve never visited Night Vale, but I bet is beautiful!”

  Charles can’t help but smile as his boyfriend does most of the conversation, it’s quite a charm of his, the way he always manages to get a smile out of people with his cheery mannerisms. He chats a bit more with them before Diego gets a text message from his father asking where he is, so they bid their goodbyes with Kevin wishing them good luck and stating he _hopes to see them around_.

  Then he turns to the French boy and offers to take him home, before he can start heading home himself, he has an afternoon of playground-like activities with his younger brother to attend to, after all.

“Mama mentioned you haven’t come back home for dinner, are you free tonight?” he asks out of the blue as they get in the car. “She says that if you come by again she can make that dish you liked last time”.

“I would love to!” Kevin answers as he starts the car, is almost an automatic response, making Charles wonder why Kevin _doesn’t_ want to go back to his own home, he thinks about asking if everything is okay with his siblings Amy and Kelvin.

“Great!” he says instead and quickly writes a text message to let his mother know, she must be already home, anyways. “Fabi is probably going to want to play with you as well” he warns, but Kevin smiles warmly at this, he likes all of Charles’ siblings, but he has a soft spot for Fabien, given that he is only eight years old. Charles likes that Kevin likes his siblings, plus Kevin playing with kids is a very cute sight to see.

“What are we playing with him?”

“Probably something creative, you know how he is, he likes to imagine these cute fantasy worlds and all that” the golden eyed boy nods, just a Charles’ cell phone vibrates in his pocket. “Oh, hey, text from mom…” he reads it to himself: _“Amazing! I will tell your father to bring me the ingredients for the foie du gras, see you and Kevin when you get here!”_ , following it with another message that is only a string of kissy emojis. “She is making foie du gras” he summarizes to Kevin, who squeals in glee at the news.

  They don’t talk much on the way home, mostly because it’s still the early afternoon and, therefore, it’s the final segment of Andrew Murton’s radio show, and Kevin doesn’t miss it, ever, at this time he is usually there to see it firsthand and live from the recording booth, but this week the host has a few new interns from the college, so Kevin and Dan got a couple days off.

“And now…” the host intones, “let’s see what’s on the weather!”

_“I’m sorry but, don’t wanna talk, I need a moment before I go. It’s nothing personal. I draw the blinds, they don’t need to see me cry, ‘cause even if they understand, they don’t understand…”_

“That’s a lovely weather we’re having” Charles comments, the words seeming to leave him almost as he thinks them.

“Lovely weather indeed, dear” Kevin agrees, turning up the volume just a bit.

_“So then when I’m finished, I’m all ‘bout my business and ready to save the world, I’m taking my misery, make it my bitch; can’t be everyone’s favorite girl…”_

  The music seems to curl up like invisible smoke as it expands into the hot air of the desert afternoon, covering every place it reaches like a melodic blanket.

_“So take aim and fire away, I’ve never been so wide awake. No, nobody but me can keep me safe, and I’m on my way. The blood moon is on the rise, the fire burning in my eyes…”_

_“No… nobody can keep me safe…”_

_“…but I’m on my way…”_

  Earl wakes up with a start, sitting up and gasping for air, covered in a cold sweat. Still trying to even his breathing, the redhead takes a moment to regain his composure and recognize his surroundings, the inside of the tent is warm and dark so he guesses that is some hour of the night, the outside is silent. Taking a deep breath, he relaxes his body and wills himself to lie back on his sleeping bag. A hand comes to rest over his eyes as he continues to take deep breaths.

  His face feels hot to the touch, even to himself.

  _Oh no_.

 He sits up once again, grasping for his backpack and fumbling for the flashlight inside, once he has it on, he takes a small mirror and some first aid supplies.

 A rustling outside his tent stops him.

“Captain?” comes from the other side.

  It’s Teddy.

  The boy waits patiently until Earl unzips his tent and allows him inside; he doesn’t zip it back up, though. He sits next to the redhead, who is checking the wounds he sustained a couple days ago, his cheeks are flushed red and he looks a bit out of breath, making him frown.

  Teddy really hopes Earl is not running a fever due to an infected wound, because… well, he looks out the tent, to the one pitched in front, where his best friend has just finally fell asleep.

  If someone asked Teddy Williams to name one thing he is one hundred percent confident in about himself, he would answer that it would be his abilities where medical knowledge is concerned. He wants to be a doctor when he finishes high school and while his fathers are supportive, everyone else is not, because everyone knows how dangerous doctors are, one has to be _deranged_ to want _that_ for themselves, to be like _that_. Everyone knows what medical school does to people. Whatever, he lives for himself, not for others, so they can suck it.

  However, he is not sure if he can take care of both Donald _and_ Earl if the latter is indeed succumbing to a fever like he suspects.

  The fact that Earl didn’t let him check his wounds, telling him instead to focus on Donald, given that he was the more hurt of them three, doesn’t help much, even when it was a rightfully concern none the less. From sight alone he can tell that most of them look like flesh wounds, which would make sense, Earl is the most trained and fearless Boy Scout Night Vale has ever seen, he could have gone out of that fight without an scratch on him if the other two hadn’t slowed him down, but a team is a team, and this troop doesn’t leave any scouts behind. Teddy has a great deal of respect for that side of his Captain.

  But while he thinks highly of Earl’s skills and personality, his ridiculously altruistic tendencies, leave a lot to be desired.

   It is kind of impressive as well, the way in which Earl Harlan willingly puts himself _in_ the harm’s way to spare others from it. A noble endeavor, yes, but a completely useless and stupid one, at least in his opinion, but, just like other people’s opinion about his career choice don’t matter to him, his opinion is probably worth less than nothing to his Captain, so he keeps it to himself.

“How is Donald doing?” Earl asks, shaking him out of his thoughts.

“Um, good… he… “ he coughs into his fist to cover up he has been taken by surprise. “He is fine now, I managed to bring his fever down, but we better get to town soon, he is going to need more antibiotics, but not like the ones we have… _stronger_ ones, Captain” he informs grimly.

  They’re not looking at each other, Teddy is looking at the tent in front and Earl is checking his wounds still. The boy with the dark skin brings his legs against his chest and rests his chin in his knees; he hates the impenetrable glass wall that seems to be between him and his Captain. Earl also has that thing where he shuts himself off from the rest of the world and Teddy has no idea why. It makes no sense to him. He understands not being very public about his love affairs, especially given how the thing with Melony Pennington ended, but Earl is reserved about himself with _everything_ , why even bother? What’s the goddamn point of it all?

“You miss your man?” he asks, unexpectedly and without prompt, mostly because he wants to have something to talk about, something personal may help bringing that glass wall down a bit.

“…yeah, and my mothers too” he answers after a pause, he is done checking his wounds and they seem fine. Teddy sees Earl frown and then wince, as if trying to decide on something, no words are spoken to hurry him. Teddy knows it would be useless. Finally, the boy talks once more, “…I left my dog tags with Dave”.

“Why?”

“Just in case”.

  Teddy nods, as if he understood, but he doesn’t. Unlike his troop mates, he doesn’t have a boyfriend or a girlfriend, and, even though he has dated before, he is in no rush to have a new partner any time soon. His past relationships didn’t last very long, it’s fun for a while but then it’s not. He just… doesn’t get attached, he likes the company, the intimacy, but he never feels those rumored butterflies on his stomach and never had, is that… weird? Talking about it with Donald, his friend had suggested that he had not found the right person yet, but Teddy doesn’t think that there’s going to be one and that’s okay.

“He is going to be pissed off beyond belief if we manage to get back to Night Vale”.

“I’m sure it will be fine, he is a very reasonable person. Palmer, however, is totally going to flip his shit”.

“Language, Teddy, you’re a Boy Scout, not a sailor” Earl chides, frowning, before he smiles. “But yeah, if this desert doesn’t kill me, then Ceec will do it instead”.

  Silence falls between them. A cold wind slightly rustles the fabric of the tent, making them shiver as it finds it’s way around them.

“You better check on Donald” he says.

“Yeah” is his answer as he starts getting up, but he stops at the tent’s entrance. “Captain?”

“Yes, Teddy?”

“I feel like nobody would say it to your face but, uh, as your troop mate I’ve to say… that I think your tendency to keep to yourself and your proclivity to play hero are both bullshit”.

  Earl laughs.

“So I’ve been told, Teddy, go see Donald and try to sleep, if his fever is down we will try to make it back to town early in the morning. Good night”-

“Good night, Captain”.

  As he gets into his own tent, Teddy stops and looks back over his shoulder to the closed tent he just left.

_‘Did he just call me by name?’_

  Earl lies back in the darkness of the tent. Yeah, what Teddy told him is still ringing in his mind. He thinks of Cecil who can’t lead a more public life because he is not allowed on air just yet, and, to be honest, he wouldn’t like that for himself. He doesn’t need everybody talking about what he does or stops doing, there was already a surprising amount of gossip in the school when he broke up with Melony.

  What Teddy doesn’t understand, what _nobody_ seems to understand, is that it has to be done this way. He is going to be Scoutmaster one day, if the Fleur de Lis permanently burnt into his skin wasn’t obvious enough. He has to be a good example to the younger scouts (that’s why he doesn’t swear, he doesn’t drink and he doesn’t smoke), when you’re an Scoutmaster… hell, when you’re the Captain of the troop, you don’t get to depend on others, because others depend on you, and he has the nasty battle scar to prove it now.

  A part of him wonders if Dave is going to have a problem with that…

  His fingers trace the delicate silver chain of the locket that hangs around his neck, in place where his dog tags should be too if he had them in his person. The locket has two pictures inside, one is of his mothers, of course, and the other… the other is a photo he took when a certain boy with cute blue eyes and a dazzling smile was distracted. He smiles at it, even though he can’t really see the picture in the darkness of the tent. Closing his eyes; is like he can almost picture the scene of the photograph.

_It was one of the afternoons they spent together on his room. Dave had opened the window and was smoking a cigarette, a part of Earl worried about the smell lingering on his room, but his boyfriend looked so damn good in that moment as he stared to whatever was outside. They had been kissing earlier, which could be seen in the way Dave’s lips were a bit swollen or in the purpleish splotch that blossomed where his neck met his shoulder. He smiled with pride at the sight._

_“What has you smiling so much, Harlan?”_

_“Oh, nothing… just that you’re the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen”._

_“About damn time you notice” he teased turning towards the window again; Earl bit his lips to hold back a smile when he noticed that his boyfriend’s cheeks were slightly flushed. “Take a goddamn picture, it will last you longer” the next thing he knew, he heard a clicking sound and turned to see the freckled boy holding up his cell phone. “Dammit, Boy_ _Scout! You better have caught my good side at least”, he chides before turning to the window again._

  Earl shakes his head, still smiling as he brings the locket towards his lips and kisses the picture.

_“Dave… I’m on my way…”_


End file.
